Malta closed its airspace to the effort last year. Sea-Watch spokesman Ruben Neugebauer called the grounding political, saying that the group is in compliance with Italian and national norms.The country became a major crossing point for migrants to Europe after the overthrow and death of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, when the North African nation was thrown into chaos, armed militias proliferated and central authority collapsed.In Europe, meanwhile, two humanitarian groups that have been flying search-and-rescue missions for migrants out of the Italian island of Lampedusa say their planes have been grounded by Italy’s civil aviation authority. Rights groups say those efforts have left migrants at the mercy of brutal armed groups or confined in squalid detention centers that lack adequate food and water. One month ago, up to 150 Europe-bound migrants, including women and children, were missing and feared drowned when two boats carrying about 300 people capsized off Libya.Neugebauer said it is important to have the planes in the air because they document human rights violations by ships that do not respond to rescue calls. (Photo: AP) Cairo: A boat carrying dozens of migrants bound for Europe capsized Tuesday in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya, with at least 40 people missing and presumed drowned, U N officials said, as a support group reported it had gotten a call from someone on the vessel “crying and shouting” that passengers had died already. In January, 17 died or were missing off Libya and in May, about 65 drowned when their boat sank off Tunisia.”Libya’s coast guard says it has intercepted hundreds of migrants at sea so far in August.

The U N’s migration agency said a total of 859 migrants have died in the Mediterranean as of Aug, 22.At least 6,000 migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and other nations are locked in dozens of detention facilities in Libya run by militias accused of torture and other abuses.More than 3,000 migrants are in danger because the detention centers in and around Tripoli are close to fighting between forces loyal to Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter and an array of militias loosely aligned with a UN-recognized government since April. The coast guard gave a lower estimate for those missing and feared drowned, saying it was 15 to 20 people.Gassim told rubber seal strip Manufacturers The Associated Press that five people were confirmed dead, including a woman and a child from Morocco whose bodies were recovered near the western town of Khoms, around 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Tripoli. Malta generally has accepted migrants rescued in its area of responsibility. human rights chief said could amount to a war crime. The group said it received a call from migrants on the boat, who “were in severe distress, crying and shouting, telling us that people had died already.In recent years, the European Union has partnered with the coast guard and other Libyan forces to try to stop the dangerous sea crossings.The German group Sea-Watch and the French nongovernmental organization Pilotes Volontaires confirmed their flights have been grounded. There are limited supplies for the migrants, who often end up there after arduous journeys at the mercy of abusive traffickers who hold them for ransom from their families.

IST Tuesday’s shipwreck was the latest maritime disaster involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe.The coast guard gave a lower estimate for those missing and feared drowned, saying it was 15 to 20 people.Also Tuesday, hard-line Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini banned a German humanitarian ship carrying migrants rescued off Libya from entering Italian territorial waters.At least 44 people were killed in July by an airstrike on a detention center for migrants near the Libyan capital in an attack that the UN.Tuesday’s shipwreck was the latest maritime disaster involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe. Lifeline has urged the German government to help identify a safe harbor. The positions have led to numerous standoffs.Italy’s civil aviation authority, ENAC, confirmed the groundings, saying the aircraft are approved for recreational and not professional use.“If today’s tragic numbers are confirmed, the number of people drowned in the Mediterranean in 2019 will have reached close to 900,” said Charlie Yaxley, a spokesman for the U N refugee agency, who gave the estimate of at least 40 dead or missing, among them women and children, based on eyewitness accounts of the survi