300 migrants feared dead in Mediterranean crossing

Jane Onyanga-Omara | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Hundreds of migrants die in frigid Mediterranean The U.N. refugee agency says hundreds of migrants have died in frigid temperatures in the latest deadly Mediterranean tragedy.

Some 300 migrants were feared dead Wednesday off the coast of an Italian island after trying to cross the Mediterranean in four rubber boats, according to a United Nations refugee agency.

Survivors coming ashore near Lampedusa reported the four vessels — described as dinghies — attempted to make the journey from Libya to Europe in the open, frigid waters, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

The suspected deaths are in addition to the 29 people who died from hypothermia Sunday on one of the boats, all four of which launched from Libya on Saturday, UNHCR reported.

Carlotta Sami, the UNHCR's spokeswoman in Italy, said the victims had been "swallowed up by the waves," the youngest age 12. Survivors told the organization the four boats left together without food or water and began taking on water almost immediately.

Some 107 people were rescued by the Italian coast guard and a merchant ship. If all four boats are confirmed missing, the death toll may surpass 300, UNHCR said.

"This is a tragedy on an enormous scale and a stark reminder that more lives could be lost if those seeking safety are left at the mercy of the sea," UNHCR Europe Bureau Director Vincent Cochetel said in a statement. "Saving lives should be our top priority. Europe cannot afford to do too little too late."

The International Organization for Migration, a watchdog group, said smugglers based in Libya were ultimately responsible for the deaths.

"What's happening now is worse than a tragedy — it is a crime — one as bad as any I have seen in 50 years of service," IOM Director General William Lacy Swing said in a statement. "These smuggling networks act with virtual impunity and hundreds are dying. The world must act."

The IOM said the boats were carrying nationals from Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, Niger, Mali and Mauritania.

About 3,500 of the 218,000 people who tried to cross the Mediterranean through irregular routes last year died, UNHCR reported.

A significantly higher number of migrants have tried to cross the sea on smugglers' boats in the first few weeks of 2015 compared with the same period last year, UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said.

In January, 3,528 migrants reached Italy, up by two-thirds from 2,171 in the first month of 2014, a year that brought 170,100 migrants to Italy's shores.

Earlier this week, the UNHCR called the deaths of those found on the first boat the first major maritime loss of life this year, and called on the European Union to beef up search-and-rescue capacity in the Mediterranean.

The EU took over Mediterranean patrols after Italy phased out its so-called Mare Nostrum ("Our Sea") operation in November. Mare Nostrum was launched in 2013 after 360 migrants died off the coast of Lampedusa.

The EU's Triton mission patrol operates only a few miles off Italy's coast, whereas Mare Nostrum patrols took Italian rescue ships up close to Libya's coast, where most of the smuggling operations originate.

"The Triton operation doesn't have as its principal mandate saving human lives, and thus cannot be the response that is urgently needed," Laurens Jolles, the head of the U.N. agency for southern Europe, said in a statement.

Contributing: Kim Hjelmgaard; the Associated Press