A six-month-old boy from Guinea has died on a rescue vessel in the central Mediterranean after the overcrowded dinghy he was travelling in capsized off the coast of Libya. The child, named Joseph, was among more than 100 migrants aboard the vessel when it deflated and sank late on Wednesday morning.
Rescuers from the Spanish NGO Open Arms saved Joseph and others, but at least five other asylum seekers also died in the incident. Despite urgent efforts by the medical team, the baby did not survive. Open Arms tweeted: 'Despite the enormous commitment of our medical team, a six-month-old baby has just died. We requested an urgent evacuation for him and other people in serious conditions, but he didn’t make it. How much pain and sorrow!'
The dinghy had reportedly left Sabratha, Libya, but began to deflate after a few hours. A patrol aircraft from the European border agency Frontex raised the alarm, prompting the Open Arms ship to intervene. Riccardo Gatti, president of Open Arms Italy, described the scene as 'dramatic', with the boat having 'practically imploded' and hundreds of people in the water, including children.
Rescuers requested evacuation from Maltese and Italian authorities, but by the time the Italian coastguard arrived, Joseph had already died. The medical team from Italian Emergency, operating on board Open Arms, criticised Europe's response: 'All this took place just a few kilometres away from an indifferent Europe. Instead of preparing a structured search and rescue system, they instead continue to bury their heads in the sand, pretending not to see the cemetery that the Mediterranean Sea has become.'
The incident follows another shipwreck off Libya on Tuesday, in which 13 people died, including a child of unknown age. Eleven survivors were returned to Libya. Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesperson for the UN Migration Agency (IOM), said: 'Change is necessary now, more than ever, to guarantee effective rescue at sea and prevent new tragedies.' According to IOM, over 10,300 migrants have been intercepted at sea and sent back to Libya in 2020 alone, and at least 575 people have died in the central Mediterranean this year, though the real number is thought to be higher.
Open Arms is currently the only NGO rescue boat operating in the central Mediterranean, with many others blocked in Italian ports. Médecins Sans Frontières urged the EU to step up search and rescue capacity, tweeting: 'Is the European Union watching? Step the search and rescue capacity up, or let us save lives.'
