Libyan Coast Guard Separates Migrant Families Stranded in Mediterranean

Geo Barents search ship rescues migrants in the Mediterranean, Nov. 29, 2024. X/ @MSF_Espana

November 29, 2024 Hour: 9:27 am

‘They experienced the horror of being separated from their wives and children,’ Doctors Without Borders denounced.

On Thursday, armed men claiming to be members of the Libyan Coast Guard intercepted a boat carrying over 112 migrants in the central Mediterranean waters.

The coast guards arbitrarily transferred 29 women and children onto their vessel, leaving 83 men and unaccompanied minors on the distressed boat. More than 70 people ended up falling into the water due to threats and even gunshots fired into the air.

On Friday, Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) called on all institutions and authorities for assistance in reuniting the migrant families traveling on the boat.

“Yesterday, we witnessed yet another tragic event in the central Mediterranean. Many people were on an overcrowded and deflating boat and were threatened by armed individuals who also fired shots,” said Mara Eliana Tunno, the psychologist aboard MSF’s vessel Geo Barents.

Decine di migranti sono stati salvati nel Mediterraneo centrale dalla Geo Barents, la nave di ricerca e soccorso di Medici senza frontiere. Il gruppo, composto da 83 uomini di cui molti minori, era alla deriva su un gommone #migranti pic.twitter.com/f8CgfcMQVX
— Maurizio Molinari (@Maumol) November 29, 2024

The text reads, “Dozens of migrants were rescued in the central Mediterranean by the Geo Barents, the Doctors Without Borders search and rescue ship. The group, made up of 83 men, many of them minors, was left adrift in a small boat.”

“They experienced the horror of being separated from their wives and children, who were taken away from them. Currently, we have extremely desperate and traumatized people on board, constantly asking us to help reunite them with their families. Those on board report having endured violence, torture, abuse, and inhumane treatment in terrible living conditions in Libya,” she added.

“One man tried to throw himself into the sea to retrieve his wife and their children, aged just 4 months and 10 years, repeatedly saying that Libya is not a safe place. We appeal to all competent authorities and organizations to immediately begin efforts to reunite families that have already suffered immensely” the MSF psychologist emphasized.

Following this rescue, the Geo Barents set course for the Italian port of Brindisi but was later instructed to head to Crotone, where disembarkation is expected in the coming hours.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Considered the deadliest routes known, until November 2,499 people died or disappeared in the Mediterranean (28,248 since 2014), according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). pic.twitter.com/CkrhbTPwGm
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 13, 2023