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    May 08, 2012

Somali Refugees Drown While Fleeing Libya

   Lisa Schlein | Geneva

   Several Somali refugees have drowned while fleeing by boat from Libya
   to Malta, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Details are are still
   sketchy and an investigation is under way.
   The U.N. refugee agency reports a boat carrying 90 Somali refugees
   landed on one of Malta's most popular beaches over the weekend.
   Spokesman Adrian Edwards said exhausted survivors only now are
   reporting to UNHCR staff some of the events of this ill-fated journey.
   "These survivors told UNHCR that five men and two women aboard the boat
   perished during the week-long voyage from Libya. The boat came ashore
   at Riviera Bay on Saturday and the emergency services were alerted by
   families enjoying a beach party. This is the fourth such boat to have
   arrived this year, bringing in total some 220 people. A further 45
   boats have arrived in Italy," said Edwards.
   UNHCR's regional office in Italy reports these latest deaths raise to
   81 the number of reported or confirmed dead among people trying to
   reach Europe from Libya this year.
   Edwards said it is not clear why people are still continuing to put
   their lives at risk by fleeing from Libya. He said the exhausted
   survivors of the latest boat are still in bad shape. He said more
   information, no doubt, will emerge once they have recovered from their
   ordeal.
   "We are not aware of any distress calls from this particular boat.
   There were just over 80 people on board. It was a small vessel," said
   Edwards. "In many cases, what we are seeing over the last year is that
   these vessels leaving North Africa really have no qualified crew or
   navigators on board, so that they are more or less left to their own
   devices to cross this stretch of water."
   Edwards said the Mediterranean continues to be one of the deadliest
   stretches of water in the world for asylum seekers, refugees, and
   people in mixed migration flows. He noted that an estimated 1,500
   people last year were reported missing or dead while crossing the sea.