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A30 world news
DIAHUEBS 22 JULI 2021

UN migration official: 20 migrants drown off Libya’s coast

(AP) — Libya’s coast guard have exceeded the number fleeing war and poverty in Af-
intercepted Wednesday of interceptions for the entire rica and the Middle East. The
four boats in the Medi- year of 2020.” oil-rich country plunged into
terranean Sea carrying chaos following a NATO-
migrants trying to reach An IOM report earlier this backed uprising that toppled
Europe, a U.N. official month said the number of and killed longtime autocrat
said. According to the mi- migrants and refugees who Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
grants, 20 people from one died while attempting to
of the vessels had gone reach Europe on danger- Rights groups and officials at
overboard earlier in the ous sea crossings more than U.N. agencies that work with
day and were presumed to doubled so far this year, com- migrants and refugees have
have drowned. pared to the first six months for years now cited survivor
of 2020. testimony about systematic
The circumstances under abuse in the detention camps
which the migrants went The report said at least 1,146 in Libya, including forced
overboard were unclear, said people perished between labor, beatings, rapes and
Safa Msehli, a spokeswoman January and June, with the torture. The abuse often ac-
for the International Orga- Central Mediterranean route companies efforts to extort
nization for Migration. The of migrants were intercepted crossings and attempted between Libya and Italy be- money from families before
vessel was overcrowded as off Libya’s coast, Msehli also crossings from Libya in re- ing the deadliest, claiming migrants are allowed to leave
many of the rubber dinghies said. Around 500 migrants, cent months. Amnesty Inter- 741 lives. Libya on traffickers’ boats.
and dilapidated boats smug- including nine children and national has said that in the
gling the migrants typically 43 women, were returned to first six months of this year, The deadliest shipwreck so Earlier in July, Libyan mari-
are. shore and taken to the Maba- more than 7,000 people in- far this year took place on time authorities acknowl-
ni detention center in Tripoli, tercepted at sea were forcibly April 22 off Libya, when 130 edged that one of their coast
It was the latest disaster in the she said. returned to detention camps people drowned despite the guard vessel had fired warn-
Mediterranean involving mi- in Libya. ship sending multiple dis- ing shots at a migrant boat it
grants seeking a better life in Many of the migrants were tress calls. was chasing in the Mediter-
Europe. exhausted and suffered from “The situation in the central ranean, in an apparent effort
dehydration, she added. Mediterranean is a humani- Libya has in recent years to stop it from crossing to
Since Tuesday, a total of seven tarian crisis,” Msehli said. emerged as the dominant Europe and endangering the
vessels smuggling hundreds There has been a spike in “We are in July, and already transit point for migrants lives of the migrants onboard.

China blasts dam to divert floods that killed at least 25

(AP) — China’s military about 10,000 passengers the province said more than
has blasted a dam to re- were halted, including three 100,000 people have been
lease floodwaters threat- for more than 40 hours, ac- evacuated to safety.
ening one of its most cording to Caixin, a business
heavily populated prov- news magazine. Sections of Henan province has many
inces, as the death toll in 26 highways were closed due cultural sites and is a major
widespread flooding rose to the rain, the Transport base for industry and agri-
to at least 25. Ministry said on its social culture. It is crisscrossed by
media account. multiple waterways, many
The dam operation was car- A blackout shut down ven- of them linked to the Yel-
ried out late Tuesday night in tilators at the First Affili- low River, which has a long
the city of Luoyang, just as ated Hospital of Zhengzhou history of bursting its banks
severe flooding overwhelmed University, forcing staff to during periods of intensive
the Henan provincial capi- use hand-pumped airbags to rainfall.
tal of Zhengzhou, trapping help patients breathe, accord-
residents in the subway sys- ing to the city’s Communist State media on Wednes-
tem and stranding them at Party committee. It said more day showed waters at waist
schools, apartments and of- than 600 patients were being height, with rain still coming
fices. transferred to other hospitals. down.

Another seven people were A woman aboard a subway To the north of Zhengzhou,
reported missing, provincial in a flooded tunnel told her the famed Shaolin Temple,
officials said at a news con- husband the water almost known for its Buddhist
ference. reached her neck and passen- monks’ mastery of martial
gers had trouble breathing, arts, was also badly hit.
A video posted on Twitter by the Henan Business Daily
news site The Paper showed newspaper reported. China routinely experiences
subway passengers standing floods during the summer,
in chest-high muddy brown It said staff at a subway sta- but the growth of cities and
water as torrents raged in the tion told her husband all conversion of farmland into
tunnel outside. passengers had been evacu- subdivisions has worsened
ated but acknowledged that the impact of such events.
Transport and work have wasn’t so after he started a
been disrupted throughout video chat with his wife on U.N. Secretary-General An-
the province, with rain turn- his cellphone showing she tonio Guterres sent a letter to
ing streets into rapidly flow- still was aboard. China’s President Xi Jinping
ing rivers, washing away “to convey his heartfelt con-
cars and rising into people’s The precise times and lo- dolences on the tragic loss of
homes. cations of the deaths and lives and devastation,” U.N.
disappearances weren’t im- deputy spokesman Farhan
At least 10 trains carrying mediately clear, although Haq said Wednesday.