Two children died and one person is missing after a small boat carrying migrants capsized Monday during a rescue operation in the Tunisian Search and Rescue (SAR) zone involving a merchant vessel, the NGO Sea Watch stated.
Sea Watch reported spotting the distressed vessel carrying 90 people who had been at sea for three days and requesting assistance. “Frontex arrived six hours later, saw the boat, and then left,” the organization claimed. Sea Watch further denounced that Italian authorities “are doing everything to prevent them from reaching Italy,” warning of the danger that the Libyan Coast Guard could intercept the migrants and return them to Libya.
The NGO asserted its ship, the Aurora, could have intervened but is currently detained by Italian authorities in Lampedusa “allegedly without justification.”