The deaths of up to 500 mostly Palestinian and Syrian migrants and refugees could be an act of mass murder, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said on Sept. 19. Hundreds of migrant workers and refugees from Gaza and Syrian conflicts were aboard a boat that left from the Egyptian port of Damietta and are feared dead at the hands of human traffickers who rammed and sank the boat off the Malta coast. “The callous act of deliberately ramming a boat full of hundreds of defenseless people is a crime that must not go unpunished,” the high commissioner said. “If the survivors’ accounts are indeed true—and they appear all too credible—we are looking at what amounts to mass murder in the Mediterranean.’’ According to survivors, there may have been 100 children under the age of 10 aboard the boat, among several hundred people crammed into a lower boat deck while several hundred more were on a top deck constantly exposed to the sun.
Murder on the Mediterranean
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
Pope Francis has had a severe breathing crisis today that required giving him high-flow oxygen and blood transfusions.
Is the pope out of danger? No. Is he in danger of death right now? Also no.
The White House began an effort to restore relations with Russia as President Trump repeats Russia’s narrative and talking points about the origins of the war on Ukraine.
Joining Ashley and Zac to cover the cosmos on this week’s episode of “Jesuitical” is Guy Consolmagno, S.J., the director of the Vatican Observatory and author of the new book, A Jesuit’s Guide to the Stars: Exploring Wonder, Beauty, and Science.