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At least 70 migrants feared drowned off Malta
Sudan News.Net
Thursday 28th August, 2008 (IANS)
Two rescue helicopters Thursday were searching for as many as 70 illegal migrants reported missing off Malta.
They were reported missing by eight of their companions who were found floating on a half-submerged dinghy some 40 miles south of the Mediterranean island.
Initially there was some confusion about the number of missing migrants, with the survivors telling a fishermen who rescued them that they were in a group of 18. The number was revised late Wednesday after a top official from the UN Commission for Refugees interviewed the survivors.
One of the two German helicopters conducting the search late Wednesday spotted three bodies floating in the water 56 miles south of Malta. The helicopters are participating in the EU border agency's patrols.
'This is a major tragedy,' Neil Falzon, head of the UNHCR office in Malta said, pointing out that the survivors were severely traumatised.
The survivors told him that the group of 78 migrants, including four women, three of them pregnant, left from the Libyan coast on a dinghy Aug 21. Their dinghy started taking in water early Monday before capsizing.
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WUNI ZALIGU
08-29-08, 07:06 AM |
At least 70 migrants feared drowned off Malta
I THINK THE MAJOR PROBLEM CONFRONTING THIS YOUNG AFRICANS WHO RISK THEIR DEA LIVES IN THIS DEADLY ROUTE IS BEING CAUSED BY THE CORRUPT AFRICAN LEADERS.THEY FAILED TO SHARE THE NATIONAL CAKE EQUALLY. THEY SENT THEIR CHILDREN ABROAD TO HAVE BETTER EDUCATION. BY SO DOING,THEY MAKE THE EDUCATOINAL SYSTEM SO HARD THAT AN AVERAGE OR A POOR CONTINUES TO BE POOR.THEY THEREFORE COMPELLED TO BE DROPPED-OUT.BY SO DOING SINCE THE GOVERNMENT COULD CREATE JOBS FOR THE DROP-OUT STUDENTS,ONE HAVE TO FIND YOUR OWN WAY.90% OF THIS DROP-OUT STUDENTS HAS NOT ULTINATIVE THAN TO RISKS’THEIR LIVES ON THIS TWO MOST DEADLY ROUTES, THATS THE DESERT WITH NO SPECIFIC ROAD OR DIRECTIONS. NO FOOD, NO WATER WITH ARMROBERS LIKE TOUAREGES IN THE DESERT. THIS ARM ROBERS KIDNAPPED THE STRONG YOUNG BOYS RECRUITE THEM IN TO THEIR REBEL GROUP TO FIGHT NIGER ARMY.
THE OTHER ROUTE IS THE ONE ACROSS MED-SEA THROUGH EUROPE.SUCH AS ITALY,SPAIN AND MALTA.AND SA YOU ALL KNOW THE NUMBER OF DEATH IN BOTH THE DESERT AND THE SEA IS UNPREDICTABLE. I MYSELF HAS BEEN A VICTIM. I LEFT MY COUNTRY FOR WHAT REASON I WOULD NOT SAY. I WENT TO LIBYA IN THE YEAR 2002,TO ITALY IN 2006 WHEN THEY REJECTED MY APPLICATION AND IN 28 DAYS, THEY GAVE ME FIVE DAYS TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY.HAVING KNOWN THE CIRCUMSTANCES BEHIND ME I COULD NOT GO BACK TO MY COUNTRY.I THEREFORE MEANDER MY WAY THROUGH NORWAY JUST THIS YEAR. WHAT A PITY,THEY ALSO THREATENED TO DEPORT ME.I HAD TO RUN TO WHERE? ONLY GOD NOWS.
FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS I STILL DONT KNOW MY LEFT AND RIGHT.BEEN DEPORTED BACK TO ITALY MEANS HELL AND TO GHANA DEATH OR PRISON. SO WILL I BE FAR FROM RIGHT IF I CALL MYSELF A LIVING DEAD.
SO SOME TIMES ONE DONT HAVE TO BLAME THOSE DYING IN BOTH THE DESERT AND THE SEA. IF NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT OR UDI COULD REVERSE THEIR DECISION IN MY FAVOUR, I WOULD HAVE CONSIDERED MY SELF A HUMAN BEIN NOW.BUT FOR NOW MY LIFE IS USELESS.ALL THE SAME NO MATTER WHAT DIFFICULTY I FOUND MY SELF IN, I WILL NEVER INVOLVE IN DRUG DEALING. I KNOW FOR SURE, ONE DAY, GOD ALMIGHTY WILL SURELY SHAPE MY LIFE BETTER.
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