NGOs mark year since 130 refugees died in Mediterranean shipwreck

World / 22 April 2022

A body floats in the central Mediterranean following a shipwreck in April 2021 [Flavio Gasperini / SOS MEDITERRANEE]

Ben Cowles

Web Editor

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REFUGEE rescue and support activists marked the first anniversary of a shipwreck in the central Mediterranean today by reiterating calls for action and accountability for the disaster.

About 130 people set sail from Libya on April 20 2021, around 10pm. A fisherman contacted the distress hotline organisation Alarm Phone the next morning informing them of the boat.

By 11am, Alarm Phone's activists had managed to contact the boat, receive its GPS co-ordinates and pass them on Libyan and Italian authorities. No-one came.