MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Libyan Coast Guard came to rescue three ships carrying up to 300 people, and by the time rescuers arrived, one of the boats had already sank, with only 16 of its passengers saved, the coast guard said as quoted by the Italian newspaper Repubblica. According to the survivors, at least 50 migrants drowned as a result of the crash.
"We found the migrants… Unfortunately, we could not find any body or other survivors," the coast guard commander Nasr al-Qamoud was quoted as saying.
Europe is experiencing the most serious migration since the Second World War, caused primarily by a number of armed conflicts and acute economic problems in the countries of Africa and the Middle East. Thanks to efforts to tackle the issue, the number of migrants that arrived in Italy decreased by 34 percent year-on-year in 2017 to 119,000 people.
