By Biran Gaye
Just two days into the New Year, a shipwreck off the coast of Libya in the Mediterranean Sea claimed the life of at least a Gambian. Eight are reported missing.
“We can confirm that 56 Gambians were on board the ship which sank on the Libyan Coast, out of which, 48 were rescued while 8 are missing or bodies not recovered as of now,” said Mr Musa Camara Foreign Affairs Ministry.
“Abubacarr Leigh, one of the 48 rescued victims, later lost his life after being rescued, and that the ministry is being provided his autopsy report.”
Mr Musa Camara is the Director of Migration and Diaspora Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“One of the missing persons is Mr Abubacarr Leigh who allegedly died after Libyan Coast Guards took him and some other migrants between the period of 4:00 to 9:12 am at Tripoli seaport before referring them to a detention centre,” the Migrant Groups cited from correspondence between the Gambian Association in Tripoli and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).
“The Gambian authorities were informed that Mr Leigh’s body was taken to a hospital mortuary by an ambulance and the remaining migrants were taken to a detention centre.”
They reiterated the common knowledge that migrants in Libyan detention centres experience unimaginable horrors.
Dozen migrants including Gambians as Team Gom Sa Bopa, Mediterranea Saving Humans, and Refugees in Libya, all migrant groups called for more protection and justice for migrants as well as demand a thorough investigation into the plights of Gambian migrants in Libya Detention Centres.
The migrant groups recently made these demands in a joint communiqué following the recent shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea.
Declaring it a humanitarian crisis of international significance, the migrant organisations call on the relevant authorities, civil society organisations and social justice movements to show the urgency required to stem the continued loss of lives at the Mediterranean Sea and the imminent danger facing survivors.
“Given that the United Nations (UN) is already involved and aware of the situation via the International Organisation for Migration, we remind the UN that the migration crisis is a global concern. People must have the freedom to migrate in a safe way but for many coming from destinations like the Gambia that is almost impossible,” they underscored.
