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Red Sea ship diversions boost bunker demand, prices in Africa, Mediterranean

Red Sea ship diversions boost bunker demand, prices in Africa, Mediterranean

THE re-routing of a growing number of ships around Africa to avoid potential attacks in the Red Sea is altering refuelling patterns and boosting demand for bunker fuel at far-flung ports, from Mauritius to South Africa to the Canary Islands. Ships are also expected to top up more at Singapore and Rotterdam, the two busiest bunkering ports and where fuel is competitively priced, as they try to hedge against uncertainty over route changes, traders and analysts said. Attacks by Yemen's Houthi militia on merchant ships in the Red Sea and retaliatory U.S. strikes have ratcheted up tensions in the Middle East as the…
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Drifting migrant boat in Mediterranean supplied with fuel but no rescue

Drifting migrant boat in Mediterranean supplied with fuel but no rescue

A merchant ship has supplied fuel and water to a boat with around 400 migrants on board which is in distress between Greece and Malta but Maltese authorities have ordered it not to conduct a rescue, German NGO Sea-Watch International said. The vessel, which departed from Tobruk in Libya amid a sharp rise of migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa, was reported to be adrift and taking on water by support service Alarm Phone early on Sunday. Alarm Phone said the boat was in the Maltese Search and Rescue area (SAR). Sea-Watch International, which located the boat with…
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Boat with 400 migrants adrift between Libya and Malta

Boat with 400 migrants adrift between Libya and Malta

A vessel with around 400 people on board is adrift between Malta and Libya and is taking on water, support service Alarm Phone said on Sunday, amid a sharp rise of migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa. Alarm Phone said on Twitter they had received a call from the boat, which departed from Tobruk, in Libya, last night and that they had informed authorities. But no rescue operation has been launched so far, they added. Alarm Phone said people on board were panicking, with several of them requiring medical attention. The vessel was out of fuel and its…
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At least 29 African migrants die when two boats sink off Tunisia

At least 29 African migrants die when two boats sink off Tunisia

AT least 29 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa died when their two boats sank off the coast of Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, the Tunisian coast guard said. Separately, in the last four days, five migrant boats have sunk off the coast of the southern city of Sfax, leaving 67 missing and nine dead, after a significant increase in boats heading towards Italy. Tunisia has taken over from Libya as a main departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East in the hope of a better life in Europe. Houssem Jebabli, a…
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Over 394 migrants rescued off Tunisia

Over 394 migrants rescued off Tunisia

TWO humanitarian rescue ships pulled 394 migrants from a dangerously overcrowded wooden boat in the Mediterranean in an operation lasting about six hours, a Reuters witness said. The German and French NGO ships Sea-Watch 3 and Ocean Viking rescued the migrants in Tunisian waters 68 km (42 miles) from the North African coast, near oil facilities and other ships. Sea-Watch 3, which assumed command of the operation, took 141 of the survivors while Ocean Viking took the rest. The yacht Nadir, from the German NGO ResQ Ship, later gave support. It was not clear if there were any deaths or…
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At least 57 migrants die in shipwreck off Libyan coast

At least 57 migrants die in shipwreck off Libyan coast

AT least 57 people have drowned after a boat capsized off the Libyan coast near Khums, the latest tragedy in the Mediterranean where more than 1,100 have perished this year, the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. Bodies have not been recovered from the shipwreck, but survivors included migrants from Nigeria, Ghana and Gambia, IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli told Reuters. "According to survivors brought to shore by fishermen and the coast guard, at least 20 women and two children were among those who drowned," she said earlier by tweet. The migrants, the majority from West Africa, departed from Khums,…
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At least 57 Africans drown in shipwreck off Tunisia

At least 57 Africans drown in shipwreck off Tunisia

AT least 57 migrants drowned in a shipwreck off Tunis as they tried to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy and 33 were rescued, humanitarian organisation Tunisian Red Crescent said yesterday. In recent weeks, drowning incidents have occurred off the Tunisian coast, with an increase in the frequency of trips to Europe from Tunisia and Libya towards Italy as the weather has improved. "Thirty-three Bengalis were rescued (and) 57 others drowned in a boat carrying about 90 migrants that set off from Libya towards Europe," Red Crescent official Mongi Slim told Reuters. A security source confirmed that 57 migrants…
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17 migrants drown in shipwreck

17 migrants drown in shipwreck

AT least 17 African migrants drowned in a shipwreck off Tunis as they tried to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy, the Tunisian Red Crescent said on Thursday. The Tunisian coastguard had rescued two Nigerian women in waters off the southern town of Zarzis, Red Crescent official Mongi Slim also told Reuters. The ship started on Sunday from Zawyia in Libya with 19 migrants on board. Last month, at least 40 migrants drowned off Tunisia's port of Sfax south of Tunis. The United Nations said at least 300 people have perished in the central Mediterranean crossing this year while…
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Migrant tragedy at sea a time of shame – Pope

Migrant tragedy at sea a time of shame – Pope

POPE Francis said yesterday that "now is the time for shame" after 130 migrants were feared dead in the Mediterranean and a U.N. organisation accused states of not responding to distress calls. Merchant vessels and a charity ship searching the Mediterranean for boats with migrants found 10 bodies floating near a capsized rubber boat in international waters near Libya believed to have had 130 people on board, French humanitarian organisation SOS Mediterranee said on Friday. "I confess to you that I am very pained over yet another tragedy in the Mediterranean," Francis said to hundreds of people in St. Peter's…
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At least 130 Africans feared drowned

At least 130 Africans feared drowned

MERCHANT vessels and a charity ship searching the Mediterranean for boats carrying migrants have found 10 bodies floating near a capsized rubber boat believed to have had 130 people on board, French humanitarian organisation SOS Mediterranee said. Another wooden boat was still missing with about 40 migrants aboard, a spokesman for the group said on Friday. The civil hotline Alarm Phone had reported three boats were in distress on Wednesday, prompting SOS Mediterranee to launch a search "in very rough seas, with up to 6-metre waves", the non-governmental organisation said in a news release issued earlier. Three merchant vessels helped…
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