ROME: Over 250 African migrants were feared drowned in the Mediterranean Thursday after a charity’s rescue boat found five corpses close to two sinking rubber dinghies off Libya. They had drowned in the 24 hours prior to them being discovered shortly after dawn on Thursday in waters directly north of the Libyan port of Sabrata, according to the rescue boat s medical staff. Despite the growing risks, migrants trying to reach Europe still stand a good chance of making it by getting on a trafficker s boat. More than half a million got to Italy in that fashion between late 2013 and the end of last year. “Defeating the business model of traffickers requires the existence of credible legal pathways for those in need of international protection,” UNHCR’s Cochetel said.

Source: Libya Today March 24, 2017 03:11 UTC