340 Feared Dead in Mediterranean Shipwrecks
An estimated 340 people are believed to have drowned in four shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea this week, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
On Wednesday night, MSF staff rescued 27 people who said their rubber dinghy had been packed with 130 passengers hoping to reach Europe.
A day earlier, SOS Mediterranee rescued 23 people after their boat sank, Reuters reported. It had been carrying 122 people. One survivor told rescuers: “We waited in the water, grabbing hold of whatever floated, but most people drowned, including my little brother. He was 15 years old.”
Another shipwreck on Monday left around 130 dead, while 15 survivors remained in the water for hours, clinging to pieces of their boat before an oil tanker passed.
Stormy winter seas have made the dangerous sea voyage from North Africa to Italy even more deadly, and the U.N. says people-smugglers are using increasingly cramped and unseaworthy boats. Over 4,500 have drowned in the Mediterranean this year.
Thousands Flee Burundi to Overcrowded Camps in Tanzania
Unrest in Burundi has forced around 10,000 people to flee into neighboring Tanzania each month since August, placing a strain on the country’s refugee camps.
A quarter of a million refugees are currently sheltering in Tanzania’s three refugee camps, where overcrowding and unsanitary conditions leaves them vulnerable to malaria with the arrival of the rainy season, MSF warned.
There is a shortage of tents, and new arrivals are being housed in communal shelters holding up to 200 people, the group said. There is also a risk of cuts in food aid if agencies do not receive further international support.
“This is rapidly becoming one of Africa’s biggest refugee crises,” said MSF’s head of mission in Tanzania, David Nash.
United Nations investigators and human rights groups have warned of the risk of genocide in Burundi, reports Voice of America, after a crackdown on protests last year led to mass arrests, disappearances and killings.
Refugee Doctor Wins Humanitarian Award
A refugee from Myanmar who set up a clinic on the Thai border to treat others fleeing violence has received the AidEx Humanitarian Hero of the Year Award.
Cynthia Maung fled to the jungle with thousands of others after the Burmese military seized power in 1988. A trained doctor, she opened a small clinic a year later in a dilapidated building in the border town of Mae Sot.
The clinic has grown over time and now treats 75,000 patients a year. “The biggest challenge we face is in dealing with the trauma suffered by the displaced and their concerns about food, healthcare and job insecurities,” Maung told Reuters.
Maung, who is from the Karen ethnic group, told the news agency she was concerned about the new wave of displacement of Rohingya muslims amid a military crackdown in western Myanmar.
“Those especially from ethnic minorities remain very anxious about their future. They want to see if the government in Burma will be all inclusive,” she said.
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