The UN refugee agency has warned that the migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean now face an even deadlier journey then they have in the past.
In a report, the agency says that while the number of people arriving in Europe has fallen significantly, the number of deaths has risen sharply. More than 1,600 people have died trying to reach Europe so far this year.
Traffickers are having to charge more money, because they have to take greater risks as there is more surveillance from the Libyan coastguard, it says.
In the central Mediterranean, one person died or went missing for every 18 people who crossed to Europe between January and July 2018, compared to one death for every 42 people who crossed in the same period in 2017.
Italy has made clear that it does not want NGO-operated vessels bringing refugees into the country anymore, although it did allow one of its own coastguard vessels to dock carrying more than 900 migrants it had rescued off the coast of Libya.
The cash-stricken EU allows the refugees to enter Europe to serve the capitalist industries in order to rake in more profits using these victims as low paid slaves.
Blog Factory Company UK / ABC Flash Point News 2018.
This tug boat is armed with machine guns and rocket launchers?
Just in case?