Today the African migrants who survived the traumatic events off the coast of Libya told Frontex debriefing officers that smugglers who organised the operation forced them at gunpoint onto the inflatable rafts.
The interviewed migrants were among the more than 400 people who boarded four dinghies on a beach near Tripoli on Saturday night and headed for Italy. The survivors told officials that the smugglers threatened to shoot on the spot anyone who refused to get into the four inflatable rafts.
The Italian Coast Guard assisted by vessels participating in the Operation Triton rescued 105 people on one of the vessels on Monday, although 29 of them died on hypothermia.
The Coast Guard later redirected two merchant vessels to rescue nine more survivors from the other rafts. The rest of the migrants likely perished in the treacherous winter sea.
“These stories point to an awful crime. The criminals threatened the migrants with violence to board these flimsy rubber boats, knowing very well that the chances of their survival in such difficult weather conditions were slim,” said Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri. “In this terrifying tragedy one can only wonder whether for these criminal this was a terrible accident, or part of a deliberate strategy”- he concluded.
The Triton operation deploys two offshore patrol vessels and seven patrol boats that monitor Italy’s territorial waters and nearby search and rescue waters, along with one helicopter and two aircraft in the Mediterranean. The two airplanes remain involved in the ongoing search operations for the missing African migrants led by the Italian Coast Guard.
Frontex coordinates border surveillance operations at the external borders of the European Union. Its role is not to replace border control of national authorities, but to provide those EU countries that face an increased migratory pressure with additional technical assistance and border guards. When called upon by the relevant authorities, they take active part in search and rescue operations, as required by maritime law.