The crew of a naval vessel took photographs of African migrants begging for help from a broken-down boat adrift on the Mediterranean but refused to offer any assistance, a survivor told the UN refugee agency.
The account, given to the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) by an Ethiopian survivor now in a Tunisian camp, confirms a Guardian report on Sunday and adds new details that make clear western military forces off the Libyan coast were well aware of the plight of the migrants they failed to help.
“We passed by a military big boat,” one of the survivors, an ethnic Oromo, told a UNHCR official. “We wanted to go with them as it looked safer than staying in our boat, but they refused [to allow us to board] their boat. We also saw a military helicopter flying above us.
“A second helicopter flew above us and threw biscuits and water at us. Then we passed by a second military boat, but they did not rescue us – they just took pictures of us from their boat.”
The refugees’ boat set off from Libya on March 25 carrying 50 men, 20 women and two small children. When the boat washed up back on the Libyan coast only 11 were left alive after 15 days at sea without food or drinkable water. A woman survivor died on the beach and the remaining 10 men were arrested by the Libyan authorities and put in jail, where another of the men died.
“People were dying every day on board, from dehydration, sun stroke, hunger,” the Ethiopian survivor told the UNHCR. “When some of us realised others were about to die, we were trying to pay more attention to them, to comfort them. We were keeping the bodies one or two days, hoping to reach a coast and give them a proper burial and prayers, but also sometimes we did not know if they were really dead or just in a coma. After two days and no coast in view, we had to throw the bodies overboard as they were starting to smell bad.”
Nato repeated its denial that warships under its command were involved. A spokesperson said there were two reports from Nato ships about migrant boats in distress in the week in question, and both were offered help. Nato also said a Romanian ship under alliance command helped another boatload of 150 migrants on Thursday night, fixing their engine, mending a leak and providing food.
Nato said the defective boat in this latest incident was “allegedly provided by Libyan military officials and crewed by three Syrians”. There have been allegations that the regime in Tripoli has been using migrants as a propaganda weapon, deliberately allowing them to leave in unseaworthy vessels.
The US, France, Germany and Spain all have warships off the Libyan coast that are not formally taking part in Nato operations there. None has admitted being involved in the incident described by the survivors.
Melissa Fleming, the UNHCR spokesperson, said: “We are hugely concerned that boats are encountering other boats in distress at sea but are doing nothing. There is a legal obligation to carry out rescue at sea.”
According to the account given to the UNHCR, the Oromo survivor was one of three Ethiopian men on the boat. They had paid smugglers $800 to make the sea voyage to Europe, although the migrants were expected to operate the boat on their own. They had to pay a further $900, provided by Ethiopian friends, to get out of the Libyan prison, from where they crossed the border into Tunisia.
According to the UNHCR, a total of 12 505 migrants have arrived in Italy from Libya since March. There have been 130 arrivals in Malta. At least 800 — possibly many more — are believed to have drowned making the crossing. – guardian.co.uk