<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19258">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff" bgColor=#ffffff><!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlStartT|**|-~-->
<DIV style="POSITION: relative" id=ygrp-mlmsg>
<DIV style="Z-INDEX: 1" id=ygrp-msg><!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlEndT|**|-~-->
<DIV id=ygrp-text>
<P>Boats 4 People. Press release n°5<BR>Link to full video: <A
href="http://vimeo.com/45617472">http://vimeo.com/45617472</A><BR><BR>Abbas, an
Eritrean national is the only survivor of this incident, was<BR>found on Tuesday
at 14:30 by a Tunisian fisherman 35 miles off the coasts<BR>of Zarzis. He was
hanging onto the remains of the rubber dinghy with which<BR>he had left Tripoli
around 14 days earlier with 56 people on board (20<BR>Somalians, 2 Sudanese and
34 Eritreans), among which his older brother and<BR>two sisters. After
approximately 26 hours of navigation, the boat, which<BR>was in very bad
conditions, capsized and only Abbas managed to hold onto<BR>the boat, whose
engine was nevertheless damaged after falling into the<BR>water. He drifted
alone for fourteen days in the open sea, occasionally<BR>sighting in the
distance other vessels. After finally being rescued by a<BR>Tunisian fisherman
yesterday, a patrol boat of the Tunisian "Garde<BR>National Maritime" was sent
out and took him on board at 15:30 at the<BR>following coordinates: 33 50.577 N,
11 32.442 E (see map). Nevertheless,<BR>this location refers only to the point
were the rescue operation took<BR>place, and does not indicate the furthermost
point reached by the boat,<BR>which might have been several tens of miles North
of this point. Abbas was<BR>later brought to the hospital in Zarzis, where he
received treatment for<BR>dehydration and extreme exhaustion.<BR>WatchTheMed: <A
href="https://watchthemed.crowdmap.com/reports/view/23">https://watchthemed.crowdmap.com/reports/view/23</A><BR><BR>Boats
4 People. Press release n°5<BR>Zarzis, 11th July 2012:<BR><BR>Boats 4 People: A
delegation meets sole survivor of tragic incident that<BR>cost the lives of
55<BR><BR>A year and a few months after the "left-to-die boat" case lead
to<BR>international indignation, another dramatically similar incident
reveals<BR>how, despite the changed geopolitical situation, migrants keep dying
in<BR>the Mediterranean sea in appalling conditions.<BR><BR>Last year, in March
2011, 63 people who had left Tripoli in the attempt to<BR>reach the Southern
shores of Italy, died after drifting for 14 days at<BR>sea. This incident
occurred during the international military intervention<BR>in Libya and as such
in meticulously surveilled waters. Several damning<BR>reports were released on
the failures of a series of actors and a legal<BR>case was filed in France for
non-assistance. Now, despite the fall of the<BR>Qaddafi regime and the end of
the international intervention in Libya,<BR>Boats4People has learned during an
interview conducted this morning in<BR>Zarzis, Southern Tunisia, about another
tragic case that shows once again<BR>the dramatic effects of the European
migration regime.<BR><BR>Abbas, an Eritrean national who is the only survivor of
this incident, was<BR>found on Tuesday at 14:30 by a Tunisian fisherman 35 miles
off the coasts<BR>of Zarzis. He was hanging onto the remains of the rubber
dinghy with which<BR>he had left Tripoli around 14 days earlier with 56 people
on board (20<BR>Somalians, 2 Sudanese and 34 Eritreans), among which his older
brother and<BR>two sisters. After approximately 26 hours of navigation, the
boat, which<BR>was in very bad conditions, capsized and only Abbas managed to
hold onto<BR>the boat, whose engine was nevertheless damaged after falling into
the<BR>water. He drifted alone for fourteen days in the open sea,
occasionally<BR>sighting in the distance other vessels. After finally rescued by
a<BR>Tunisian fisherman yesterday, a patrol boat of the Tunisian
"Garde<BR>National Maritime" was sent out and took him onboard at 15:30. He
was<BR>brought to the hospital in Zarzis, where he received treatment
for<BR>dehydration and extreme exhaustion.<BR><BR>Boats4People denounces once
again the policy of border closure that oblige<BR>migrants to resort to
dangerous means to cross the Mediterranean as well<BR>as the criminalization of
assistance to migrants in distress at sea, which<BR>have de facto transformed
the Mediterranean in a cemetery.<BR><BR>In collaboration with researchers of the
Forensic Oceanography project at<BR>Goldsmiths College, Boats4People will keep
inquiring to determine if any<BR>measure could have been taken to avert the
tragic fate of the passengers<BR>of this boat.<BR><BR><A
href="mailto:info%40allincluded.nl">info@allincluded.nl</A><BR><A
href="http://www.allincluded.nl">http://www.allincluded.nl</A><BR>Plantage
Doklaan 12<BR>1018 CM Amsterdam<BR>tel 020-3795236<BR><BR></P></DIV><!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlStart|**|-~--></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>