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CNN
Tina Burnside and Barbie Nadeau, CNN
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Roughly 700 people are reported to have been on board the boat
Rescuers say they have found scores of bodies in the waters off Libya
Rome (CNN)It was the latest in a series of dangerous voyages as hundreds of men, women and children boarded a boat in Libya, hoping to make it safely to Europe.
But after a couple of days at sea, in the dark of night Saturday, the ship was in distress in the Mediterranean and sent out an SOS. As a ship full of rescuers approached, the migrants all moved to one side of their boat, hoping to be saved. Their movement caused the boat to capsize, sending the desperate crowd plunging into the frigid waters, where the chance of survival is slim.
Urgent rescue operations were underway Sunday, with authorities estimating there may have been as many as 700 people on the ship.
Some were rescued. Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, told CNN that 49 survivors were recovered and being taken to Sicily. But the Italian Coast Guard, which is leading the rescue operation, reported that 28 survivors and 24 bodies have been recovered so far in the area about 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Libya.
It’s “genocide — nothing less than genocide, really,” Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said in an interview with CNN. Malta is working with Italy in the rescue operations.
“Our troops, together with the Italian navy, are literally looking through the bodies to try to find someone who’s still alive,” Muscat said.
While the capsizing was an accident, human traffickers are involved in putting people on rickety, unsafe ships that risk their lives.
“Gangs of criminals are putting people on a boat, sometimes even at gunpoint,” Muscat said. “They’re putting them on the road to death, really, and nothing else.”
Security for Libya’s borders is essential to “take out these criminal gangs — these terrorists,” Muscat said. The international community “cannot continue to turn a blind eye,” he added.
The vessel was large and had multiple levels, Italian Coast Guard spokeswoman Francesca Caruso said.
Many of the migrants are from sub-Saharan Africa, and travel for weeks just to get to the ships. They’re seeking a better life, but many are exploited by the traffickers who organize the voyages.
Already this year, more than 900 migrants are believed to have died while crossing the Mediterranean — far more than during the same period in 2014, the International Organization for Migration said Friday.
In one four-day period alone, more than 8,000 migrants were rescued, according to the Italian Coast Guard. On one day alone, SOS calls came in from 20 boats in distress.
Roberta Metsola, a Maltese member of the European Parliament, told CNN on Sunday that countries from Northern Europe need to share the responsibility with their southern neighbors.
“The people are going to continue to arrive,” she said. “The desperation subsists — there are almost a million people waiting to board boats and come to Europe to seek a better life. And that fact has to be recognized.”
Journalist Barbie Nadeau reported from Rome; CNN’s Jethro Mullen reported Hong Kong, and CNN’s Josh Levs reported from Atlanta. CNN’s Tina Burnside contributed to this report.
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