Twenty-two Mali migrants, including three children, perished after their boat capsized off the coast of Libya. The Malian government claimed they were among a group of more than 80 migrants who had spent the majority of the previous two weeks trapped on their sinking vessel.
With the aid of the UN agency for migration, 61 individuals were saved from the boat. An agency representative claimed that in the first quarter of this year, there had been a “substantial increase” in the number of migrants passing through Niger and Mali on their way to North Africa.
Saving people drowning at sea is a universal obligation but it would appear that the new normal for Europe is to either ignore this moral imperative or lay blame on the people fleeing themselves, reports migration activists.
