Comprehension Exercise based on the death of migrants in Libya

Improving your English through reading news articles. (This article has been taken from New York Times.)

More Than 70 Migrants Feared Dead After Boat Capsizes Off Libya

Survivors said at least 100 people were on a boat that had left Libya for Europe. Only 32 of those aboard are known to have survived.

How to understand the article “More than 70 migrants feared dead after the boat capsizes off Libya”

Feared dead … It means their dead bodies have not been recovered yet. So, their deaths can’t be legally confirmed. In such cases, we write “feared dead’.

Off Libya… It means the place of the accident is a little distance away from the coast of Libya.

In the Africa-Europe map, see where is Libya and how far it is from Europe.

Subheading….

The boat was carrying as many as 100 passengers. The boat sank (capsized) in the sea. Only 32 passengers managed to save their lives (survived). Some 68 people were drowned in the sea.

Lines under the photo….

There is an NGO by the name Sea Watch in Libya. It has released a news about this gruesome incident.

1^st para…At least 70 migrants were missing after their boat capsized on Saturday off the coast of Libya as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, according to survivors rescued by a commercial ship and then brought to the island of Lampedusa.

Note.. See the Mediterranean Sea in the map. See where is Libya (in Africa) and where is Italy. See where the Lampidusa island is.

A merchant (commercial) ship was somewhere near the accident spot. Seeing the boat sinking in the sea close to it, the ship came and rescued just 32 passengers. Others died in the sea. The ship left the 32 passengers in the Lampidusa Islands.

2^nd para … Local representatives of the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations refugee agency said Sunday that there were 32 survivors, including one minor. Both agencies said survivors had told them that more than 100 people had been aboard a lightweight boat that left the port of Tajoura, Libya, between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Note.. There is an organization named ‘International Organisation for Migration’. They have an office in Libya. Their representative and the United Nations (the U.N) confirmed that only 32 passengers had survived. There was a young child among these people whose life was saved.

There is a port named Tajoura in Libya. The 100 passengers from Libya boarded a light weight boat from this port in the darkness of Friday night. They started their illegal journey at night to evade police action.

3^rd para … The survivors said weather conditions had been very rough, with high waves. The boat began taking on water and capsized several hours after it had begun the crossing, while still in Libyan waters.

Note .. Unfortunately for the passengers, the weather above the sea was rough. Strong wind was blowing causing high waves in the sea waters. As a result, waves hit the boat and threw a lot of water into it. The passengers had tried frantically to throw out the water from inside the boat. However, the quantity of water falling into the boat from the waves was much more than the water the passengers were able to throw out. Gradually, the weight of the boat increased and it sank (capsized) in the waters of the Mediterranean (This spelling is difficult. Remember it.) Sea. The passengers fell into water.

4^th para … Sea-Watch, a German organization that runs rescue missions and monitors the Mediterranean, said in a statement that on Saturday one of its aircraft had received word of a boat in distress in the central Mediterranean. When the aircraft arrived, “it found an overturned wooden boat with about 15 people desperately clinging to the hull, several people in the water, and some bodies,” Sea-Watch said on Sunday.

5^th para .. Roberto D’Arrigo, a spokesman for the Italian Coast Guard, said his Libyan counterparts had organized the rescue efforts, which involved an Italian merchant ship and a Liberian merchant ship.

Note of 4^th and 5^th para .. Sea Watch is a voluntary German organisation whose main job is to save passengers in small boats facing dangers in the Mediterranean Sea. On Friday night, one of its small aircrafts was flying in that area. It got a message that a boat with so many passengers was about to capsize in the sea below.

The aircraft came to the spot. The pilot saw that the boat had turned upside down. Some 15 passengers were sitting on it and some more were tightly gripping the boat’s body to avoid drowning. Some were swimming nearby and some dead bodies were floating in the water.

Roberto D’Arrigo, a spokesperson of Italy’s Coast Guard said that they  had joined hands with their Libyan counterpart to rescue the passengers. They had taken the help of a merchant ship sailing near the spot.

6^th para …The survivors had been transferred to the Italian ship, which on Sunday brought them close to the port of Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost island. The island has become a gateway to Europe for thousands of desperate asylum seekers and migrants.

Note .. The passengers who were saved from drowning were boarded on to the Italian merchant ship. This operation happened close to the port of Lampedusa. This island belongs to Italy. It is situated at a distance that is more than that of all other Italian islands in the Mediterranean sea. It is the southern-most island which is the nearest point from Libya.

7^th para …The 32 survivors — all men from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt — were then transferred to an Italian Coast Guard ship, which brought them to the port, Captain D’Arrigo said. Two corpses were also brought aboard the ship.

Note .. The people who were lucky enough to escape death were Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Egyptians. They were transferred from the merchant ship to the ship belonging to Italian Coast Guard. The dead bodies were also brought on to the Coast Guard ship. Later, the survivors and the dead bodies were onloaded in the Lampedusa port.

8^th para … Filippo Ungaro, a spokesman for UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, said the migrants had tried to make the crossing in a light boat that was “very unsuitable for crossing the Mediterranean.” He said the survivors had told UNHCR staff that 70 passengers were still missing.

“But that has to be verified,” he said.

Note.. NHCR is the acronym (short form) for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Its spokesperson in the area is Fillipo Ungaro. He stated that the boat thzat was hired to bring the people from Libya to Lampedusa of Italy was too small and too weak to carry so many people in the Mediterranean Sea.

9^th para .. According to an I.O.M. spokesman in Italy, as many as 120 people may have been on board the ship that capsized.

Note … IOM is the acronym (short form) for International Organisation for Migration. Like UNHCR, it is also a Unted Nations body. Its spokesperson in Italy said thzat the boat was possibly carrying 120 passengers.

10^th para… If the numbers are confirmed, it would represent one of the worst migrant tragedies in the Mediterranean, which Pope Francis had once described as the “largest cemetery in Europe.”

Note .. Pope Francis is the head of Catholic Christians. Cemetery means the place where dead bodies are buried. If the number of dead bodies is confirmed to be true, this accident will be counted as one of the deadliest accidents in recent history. Seeing such frequent deaths of large numbers of innocent and poor people, the Pope has described the Mediterranean Sea to be the cemetery of Europe.

11^th para .. In 2013, Francis made Lampedusa the site of his first official trip of Seautside Rome. Francis died last April. His successor, Pope Leo XIV, is planning to visit Lampedusa on July 4.

Note .. Pope Francis visited Lampedusa in the year 2013. It was his first official trip from Rome into a place inside the Sea. Pope Francis died recently in April.  His successor, Pope Leo XIV, is planning to visit Lampedusa on July 4.

12^th para …More than 33,450 migrants have died or gone missing in Mediterranean waters since the I.O.M. began tracking deaths at sea in 2014. Most of them died crossing the central Mediterranean between North African countries like Libya and European nations including Italy and Malta. Others have died in the narrower eastern straits between Turkey and Greece, or to the west between Morocco and Spain.

Note … The IOM began monitoring such deaths in sea from the year 2014. According to it, about 33,450 people have drowned to death in the Mediterranean Sea in the last 12 years. Most of these people were starting their sea journey from the cost of Libya. Their destination was to somehow reach European countries like Italy and Malta. (See where Malta is situated in the map.)

Apart from this route from Libya’s coast to Lampedusa of Italy, the other two migrant routes are from Morocco in Africa to Spain of Europe. Also, some migrants attempt to start their sea journey from Turkey of Asia to Greece of Europe. The sea in these two routes is comparatively narrow. (See where are Morrocco, Greece, and Turkey in the map.)

13^th para …. A migrant rescue organization, Mediterranea Saving Humans, said on social media: “This latest shipwreck is not a tragic accident, but the result of policies pursued by European governments, which refuse to open legal and safe entry routes.”

Note .. There is an organization named Mediterranean Saving Humans. It tries to rescue passengers who face great danger in the sea. This organization has blamed the European governments for not allowing migrants to come to their countries through legal routes.

14^th para … At least 725 people have gone missing in the central Mediterranean this year alone, including in one shipwreck in February in which at least 53 migrants, including two babies, went missing. Just last week, the Italian coast guard found 19 bodies and rescued 58 people after intercepting a dinghy filled with migrants that was in distress about 80 nautical miles from Lampedusa.

Note … In the central Mediterranean Sea, such deadly accidents happen frequently. Recently, 53 migrants including two babies were drowned when their ship wrecked. As many as 725 deaths have occurred in this part of the Sea this year, so far. In another incident last week, Italian Coast Guard rescued 58 passengers along with 19 dead bodies.  These people were travelling in a dinghy (a small boat). The spot was 80 nautical miles away from Lampedusa. [Nautical mile is an unit used to measure distances in the sea. One nautical mile is equal to roughly 1.15 miles.]

Answer the Questions below:

Q1. Why do so many people from Africa and elsewhere try to cross the Mediterranean Sea?

Q2. Why do the European countries don’t welcome them?

Q3. What could be the long term solution to this harrowing problem?

[All answers must have at least 10 lines.]