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GENEVA / MEDITERRANEAN DEATHS
STORY: GENEVA / MEDITERRANEAN DEATHS
TRT: 1:40
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 25 OCTOBER 2016 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) William Spindler, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR):
“With two months of 2016 still to go, at least 3,740 lives are reported lost and we might see this figure rising in the next few days. And that is just short of the 3, 771 deaths reported for the whole of 2015. This is by far the worst we have ever seen in the Mediterranean.”
4. Wide shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) William Spindler, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR):
“The causes for this increase are multiple. About half of those who have crossed the Mediterranean so far this year have travelled from North Africa to Italy – a known more perilous route. People smugglers are today often using lower-quality vessels – flimsy inflatable rafts that often do not last the journey. Several incidents seem to be connected with travel during bad weather. And the tactics of smugglers are switching to, with several occasions when they have been mass embarkations of thousands of people at a time.”
6. Med shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) William Spindler, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR):
“They seem to be sending large numbers of embarkations as opposed to one by one. Smuggling has become a big business, it’s been done almost on an industrial scale. So now they send several boats at the same time and that puts rescue services in difficulty because they need to rescue several thousand people on several hundred boasts.”
8. Medium shot, journalists
The United Nations (UN) refugee agency (UNHCR) said 2016 is the deadliest year yet for migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean, as at least 3,740 lives are reported lost with still two months left in 2016, which is just short of the 3, 771 deaths reported last year.
UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler told reporters today (25 Oct) in Geneva that “with two months of 2016 still to go, at least 3,740 lives are reported lost and we might see this figure rising in the next few days. And that is just short of the 3, 771 deaths reported for the whole of 2015. This is by far the worst we have ever seen in the Mediterranean.”
The high loss of life comes despite a large overall fall in numbers this year of people seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. Last year at least 1,015,078 people made the crossing. This year so far, crossings stand at 327,800.
On the Central Mediterranean Route between Libya and Italy the likelihood of dying is even higher, at one death for every 47 arrivals.
Spindler said “the causes for this increase are multiple. About half of those who have crossed the Mediterranean so far this year have travelled from North Africa to Italy – a known more perilous route. People smugglers are today often using lower-quality vessels – flimsy inflatable rafts that often do not last the journey.”
He added that “several incidents seem to be connected with travel during bad weather. And the tactics of smugglers are switching to, with several occasions when they have been mass embarkations of thousands of people at a time.”
Spindler added that the smugglers “seem to be sending large numbers of embarkations as opposed to one by one. Smuggling has become a big business, it’s been done almost on an industrial scale. So now they send several boats at the same time and that puts rescue services in difficulty because they need to rescue several thousand people on several hundred boasts.”
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