The UN migration agency says the weekend capsizing off Tunisia of an overloaded smuggling boat is now believed to have killed 112 migrants, which would make it the deadliest shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea this year.
Spokesperson Leonard Doyle of the International Organization for Migration says it counts 60 confirmed deaths and 52 people missing and presumed dead from the capsizing off the eastern city of Sfax. Sixty-eight people survived.
IOM says Tunisians make up most migrants now attempting the crossing in the central Mediterranean route toward Italy.
EU leaders divided on asylum system
Meanwhile, European Union countries remain deeply divided over how to reform the bloc’s asylum system as an end of June deadline approaches for updating rules central to handling mass influxes of refugees.
Well over one million people, mostly Syrians fleeing conflict, entered Europe in 2015, overwhelming Greece and Italy. Their entry strained relations among EU neighbours and fuelled anti-migrant sentiment.
Dutch Migration Minister Mark Harbers said in Luxembourg that there are “a lot of member states that still have points of discussion” with the latest proposals. EU leaders want the problem resolved this month.
A relative reacts as he leaves the hospital morgue after identifying the bodies of his family members. (Zoubeir Souissi/Reuters)
Germany’s deputy interior minister, Stephan Mayer, says “there are still considerable deficits” in the proposals.
Belgian Migration Minister Theo Francken says that if no solution is found to managing migrant arrivals, “Europe will end, and we will never get out of this crisis.”
Asylum seekers could be sent to other countries
Denmark’s prime minister says a new system can be in place as soon as next year and asylum-seekers whose applications have been rejected could be sent to a country “that is not on the migrant’s wish list.”
Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, who gave no further details besides that fact that several European countries have discussed the plan, spoke Tuesday on Denmark’s Constitution Day. Danish lawmakers from all political parties hold speeches across the country to mark the signing of the 1949 Constitution.
Rasmussen said the plan “would have a huge preventive effect,” adding that a pilot project could be presented before the end of the year.