After the bodies of seven Syrians were found, a UN official calls for strengthening refugee rescue operations
The Italian Commission for Refugees at the United Nations, Chiara Cardoletti, has called for the reinforcement of rescue operations for refugees at sea, in order to prevent the tragedies of refugees on their journey to Europe. Cardoletti confirmed, in a tweet on her account on Twitter, that 6 refugees died as a result of hunger, thirst and severe burns, in the Mediterranean during their trip to Italy, and that this matter was “unacceptable.”
She indicated that the victims were among a group of 26 asylum seekers, who were on a boat that arrived in the port of Pozzallo in Sicily, Italy, last Monday. The UN official noted that more than 1,200 asylum seekers have died or disappeared this year while trying to cross the Mediterranean and reach the European Union.
A relative of the victims had explained that, last Sunday, an Italian ship had found the boat with the victims (three children and two women) from the city of “Muhassan” east of Deir ez-Zor, and two young men, one of whom was from Hama governorate. Among the victims were the two women, “Fadiya Matar Al-Abdullah and Fadia Al-Zarir,” and the children “Harith and Hudhayfa,” the sons of Basil Al-Mutlaq and “Moataz Khaled Al-Hussein.” According to the source, the children died as a result of running out of food and drink, and the two women, the first as a result of diabetes and out of medicine, and the second due to a heart attack as a result of fear.
The Turkish Coast Guard Command issued a statement, confirming that 6 asylum seekers, including two infants, 3 children and one woman, had lost their lives off the Turkish coast of Marmaris Kizlburun.
Anadolu Agency reported that the Turkish authorities sent a helicopter and boats belonging to the Turkish Coast Guard, after news arrived that there were 4 rubber boats carrying asylum seekers who were pushed by the Greek forces towards Turkish territorial waters. The agency indicated that the Coast Guard rescued 7 people who were on a semi-submerged lifeboat, and recovered 6 bodies, including two infants, 3 children and one woman, while the search is still underway for 5 lost people, two of whom are infants.
The number of Syrians who died on the way to Europe reached 7 young people during the past month alone, the latest of which was announced last Saturday, which is the drowning death of a Syrian from the village of “Al-Masrib” in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor, where he died while swimming in a river between Turkey and Greece. .
