TRIPOLI - Some 170 migrants are feared to have died in two separate shipwrecks in the Mediterranean over the last few days, reports the Italian Navy. The most recent tragedy occurred Friday.

 Only three survivors suffering severe hypothermia were recovered after the sinking of a dinghy off the coast of Libya. Saved by an Italian Air Force helicopter, they told the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) that there were 120 people on board, including “10 women, one pregnant, and two children.” The survivors are now being treated on the island of Lampedusa.

 According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a second shipwreck occurred Friday in the Alboran Sea, 53 died in this case. “It has been reported that after remaining at the mercy of the waves for over 24 hours, a survivor was rescued by a fishing boat and is receiving medical treatment in Morocco. For several days, Moroccan and Spanish rescue ships have carried out the search operations of the boat and the survivors, with no results.”

 Deputy Prime Ministers Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini commended on the incidents with different viewpoints. Salvini took the opportunity to return to attacking the NGOs committed to recovering migrants. “The latest shipwreck is proof that if you reopen ports more people will die,” he said in a video on Facebook Saturday. Meanwhile, Di Maio said that it is hypocritical to speak of “effects and not of causes”, to which he added, “There are European countries, in particular France, which continue to keep the African economy in check by impoverishing it.”

 The Italian Chamber of Deputies Speaker Roberto Fico expressed “pain, anger and sadness” at these tragic events, saying that “Saving lives is what makes a healthy society. If we do not succeed, it is a terrible failure for all of us.”

 Spokesman of the IOM, Flavio Di Giacomo said "We have not seen such a dramatic event for some time," after hearing the testimony of the survivors.

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