High seas tragedies leave more than 300 dead on the Mediterranean in past week

More than 300 people have died while trying to make irregular sea crossings from North Africa to Europe in the past week, bringing the death toll this year from sinking vesels on the Mediterranean to almost 1,900, including some 1,600 since June.

"The past few days have been the deadliest this year on the Mediterranean for people making irregular crossings to Europe, with at least three vessels having overturned or sunk," UNHCR's senior spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, told journalists in Geneva.

She said the first and largest of these incidents occurred last Friday when a boat, reportedly carrying at least 270 people, capsized near Garibouli to the east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Nineteen people survived, but the Libyan coastguard has recovered the bodies of 100 others, including five young children and seven women. The remaining 251 passengers are feared drowned.

Citing reports from survivors, Fleming said "the boat was packed full and more people were pushed on board before they departed. According to the accounts, the boat suddenly flipped, trapping the people on the lower deck." The Libyan coastguard has asked for help in the search and rescue operation and to recover bodies.

In a second incident on Saturday evening, the Italian Navy rescued 73 people and recovered 18 bodies from a damaged rubber dinghy 20 miles from Libyan territorial waters. UNHCR's Fleming said 10 people were still missing and feared drowned.

The passengers were mainly from Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea and Sudan. The dinghy was already partially deflated when spotted by an Italian search and rescue aircraft and life rafts were dropped to people struggling in the water.

In a third incident, on Sunday evening, a fishing boat carrying about 400 people capsized north of the Libyan coast in bad weather. The Italian Navy and coastguard, in a joint operation with a nearby merchant ship, rescued 364 people. So far, 24 bodies have been recovered and more are feared dead. The exact number of missing is not yet confirmed.

The main departure country for Europe is Libya, where the worsening security situation has fostered the growth of people smuggling operations, but also encouraged refugees and migrants to risk the sea journey rather than remain in a conflict zone.

"UNHCR's Tripoli office receives daily calls from refugees, asylum-seekers and other vulnerable people expressing fear for their lives and making desperate requests for food, water, medicine and relocation. Those who choose to leave for Italy are taking longer and riskier journeys through new ports of departure such as Benghazi [in eastern Libya]," Fleming said.

She noted that many of those risking their lives at sea to reach Europe were refugees fleeing conflict, violence and persecution. "This dramatic situation at Europe's sea borders demands urgent and concerted European action, including strengthened search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean, ensuring that rescue measures are safe and incur minimum risks for those being rescued," she added.

"UNHCR commends the life-saving Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) operation the Italian Navy and coastguard is conducting that has saved thousands of lives. As more refugees and migrants risk their lives at sea to reach Europe, mostly Eritreans, Syrians, and Somalis, urgent action is needed," Fleming stressed.

The UN refugee agency believes that it is of vital importance that survivors of these tragedies, who often have lost family and friends, be given immediate access to psychological support once they are disembarked. UNHCR has also called for procedures to be put in place to allow for identification of the bodies recovered at sea, providing quick and clear information so that families are not subjected to unnecessary additional suffering.

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TURKEY SENDS FLOATING POWER STATION TO GAZA TO PROVIDE VITAL ELECTRICITY AFTER ISRAEL DESTROYED THE ONLY PLANT.

Turkey plans to send a floating power station to Gaza to provide vital electricity to the troubled region.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said that the electricity generating vessel would be sent as soon as Gaza’s port facilities had been upgraded.

Yildiz met this week Palestinian Energy Minister Omar Kittaneh and afterwards told a press conference in Ankara: “The Palestinians have contacted the Israelis concerning the dispatching of the platform and there has been no adverse reaction from the Israeli side.”

The floating power plant will be provided by Turkish company Karadeniz Holding, which is the only shipbuilder in the world to make such vessels, which can operate both on liquid fuels as well as natural gas.

Karadeniz – which also operates traditional power plants in Turkey – has five operational power ships and another eight under construction, which will bring the total capacity of the fleet to around 2000 MW.

Gaza regularly suffers blackouts and its only power plant is routinely switched off for weeks at a time because of fuel shortages.

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The boy with the TWO STONE hands that are bigger than his head: Indian doctors baffled after eight-year-old's fingers swell to giant proportions

An eight-year-old boy has left doctors baffled after his hands swelled to giant proportions and now weigh more than two stone.
Young Kaleem, from India, is unable to carry out simple tasks, including tying his own shoe laces, after he was born with hands twice the size of an average baby.
His mother Haleema, 27, said she knew he was different at birth but was powerless to help and the youngster's hands have now grown so large they measure 13 inches from the base of his palm to the end of his middle finger.

The cricket fan said he has been bullied and shunned most of his life because others are 'scared' of his deformity.

He said: 'I do not go to school because the teacher says other kids are scared of my hands.

'Many of them used to bully me for my deformity. They would say "let's beat up the kid with the large hands".

'Some of them have actually beaten me and would go after me often.

'I find it difficult to put on my clothes, button my shirt and pull up my pants.

'But I don't know if I want doctors to operate on my hands. They would have to make me unconscious and then they would cut me open.

'I have no problem if they could do it without an injection. A small operation would be okay.'

His parents, who earn just £15 a month, have been desperately trying to find help for their son - but to no avail.

His mother, who has other children who do not suffer from the same condition, said: 'When Kaleem was born his hand was twice the size of a normal baby's.

'His hands were big and his fingers were long. Initially his fists were small but they began to grow large as well and his fingers also kept growing.'

His father, Shamim, 45, who works as a labourer, is worried his son will never be independent and blames himself for not earning enough money.

'He has difficulty feeding himself because his fist does not bend properly - so we have to feed him,' he said.

'Using two fingers he is able to pick up some things like a glass of water to drink.

'We want to take him to the hospital but there have been times when money has been so low that my wife has been forced to go begging.

'In that kind of financial situation, getting treatment for Kaleem was difficult.

'Even when I tried to get Kaleem into the school, the headmaster told me to put in writing that the school would not be responsible if the other children were afraid of his hands or bullied him or laughed at him.'

The couple have only just been able to take their son to a local doctor for an assessment but their hopes of an instant cure have been dashed.

Dr Ratan, the director of the local hospital, said: 'As far as my knowledge goes, this is an extremely rare condition.

'I have not seen a case in medical journals or on the internet where only the hands grew to such a large size.

'Until we have done proper genetic testing we will not be able to say exactly what is causing this deformity.'

He said that apart from the unsightly growths, Kaleem is in good health - with properly functioning lungs and heart.

But as his hands continue to grow it may put increased pressure on his cardiovascular system, potentially shortening his life.

Elsewhere, Dr Krishan Chugh, head of paediatrics at the state-of-the-art Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurgaon, near Delhi, has also been left baffled after reviewing photographs and videos of the boy's hands.

However, he believes Kaleem may be suffering from either lymphangioma or hamartoma - which are both treatable.

He added: 'This condition looks very rare and I have come across something like this before. Without proper examination and medical tests I am not 100 per cent sure about what this is.'

Lymphangioma is a condition of the lymphatic system which causes extreme inflammation resulting in doughy masses forming in certain parts of the body.

Hamartoma is a benign type of tumour where the body produces excess tissue.

After hearing from the doctors, Kaleem's parents now have renewed optimism that something can be done for their son and are doubling their efforts to raise money for him.

'We have tried several places with no solutions so far,' said Shamim.

'But I have a feeling there is a way to get the resources to give my son a normal life.'

 

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Ethiopia overtakes Kenya as Africa's biggest refugee-hosting country

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, August 19 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency announced on Tuesday that Ethiopia has overtaken Kenya to become the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, sheltering 629,718 refugees as of the end of July. Kenya, in comparison, is host to 575,334 registered refugees and asylum-seekers.

The main factor in the increased numbers is the conflict in South Sudan, which erupted in mid-December last year and has sent 188,000 refugees into Ethiopia since the beginning of 2014. There are at present 247,000 South Sudanese refugees in the country, making them the largest refugee population.

They are followed by Somalis (245,000) and Eritreans (99,000). Over the last seven months, nearly 15,000 Eritreans and more than 3,000 Somalis also arrived in Ethiopia.

"Together with the Ethiopian government and other partners, we are providing protection and humanitarian aid in 23 refugee camps and five transit sites around the country," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva.

Three of the camps and three transit sites are new – having been opened since the beginning of the year to handle the growing number of refugees fleeing the fighting in South Sudan. All three camps are at capacity and UNHCR is developing two more. While refugees wait to be moved to the new camps, more than 18,000 are sheltered in three temporary sites in Pagak, Pamdong and Matar in the western region of Gambella.

However, in recent weeks heavy rain has flooded these three low-lying sites, as well as Leitchuor Camp, where the situation is most serious. Some 10,000 refugees – more than a fifth of Leitchuor's population of 47,600 – have been hit by flooding.

Many tents and shelters are under water and latrines have collapsed. This is a serious health concern and threatens to undermine gains made in preventing the outbreak of water-borne diseases. Refugees have pitched tents on higher camp roads.

UNHCR's Edwards said that with the rainy season set to last until October, "We are working with our partners to drain the accumulated rainwater into a nearby small stream as quickly as possible. We are also speeding up development of the new Nip Nip camp-some three kilometres from Leitchuor. It will be able to accommodate 20,000 refugees."

In the meantime, the refugee agency is moving affected refugees from the roadside to drier spots of the camp and sending relief items to the area to be distributed to refugees who have lost their meagre belongings in the floods.

Most of the Gambella region is at a low elevation and flood-prone. UNHCR continues to work with the government at the federal and regional level to identify additional sites that are less susceptible to flooding.

South Sudan's crisis has caused massive displacement internally and into neighbouring countries. As of mid-August, 1.861 million South Sudanese had been forcibly displaced, of whom almost 1.3 million are internally displaced and more than 575,000 were refugees in neighbouring countries. South Sudan is also continuing to host some 243,000 refugees, the majority from Sudan.

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