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More than 2,500 people have died or are unaccounted for while trying to cross the Mediterranean in 2014. Most use the sea as conduit to Europe because of armed conflict in their home countries, economic decline, and Europe closing their borders. Upwards of 200,000 people crossed the Mediterranean in 2014.

The ship departed from Damietta in Egypt on the 6th of September and sank on the 10th of September.

The notable Malta migrant shipwreck was of a ship colliding into another, leading to the deaths of > 500 people. There were 11 survivors, and witnesses report that there were more than 100 children on the ship. The ship carrying the refugees was sunk after an argument between the smugglers because the refugees refused to disembark onto a less safe ship. At this point, the passengers on the ship had switched ships 3 times in 4 days. Some had told the smugglers that they prefer to go back to Egypt rather than get on an unsafe smaller boat. The smugglers yelled at the passengers and threw sticks at them before ramming the boat and flipping it over. They waited until the boat had sunk before leaving.

The people on the ship were from Sudan, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria.

According to two independent accounts of survivors, they spent almost 2 days at sea after the ship sank. One was found with a life-jacket at sea and the other was found clinging to a life buoy with other refugees who did not live beyond that. Survivors were found 480 km (300 miles) from the site of the shipwreck. On the first night of the shipwreck, an estimated 150 people were floating together, connecting to each other by interlocking elbows. After the first night, some had broken up into smaller groups purposefully, some were separated by the current, and others had died waiting for help.

Geographical impact
After the shipwreck, bodies started floating in the water.

The sunken ship is a source of acidification of the water and is polluting the Mediterranean sea. As this ship was not chartered or authorised to cross the Mediterranean, it is unknown if it has been carrying any illegal substances or specific polluting materials. There is also no details about the 3 previous ships the passengers had been on before being transferred to their 4th and final ship.

Physical impact
When shipwrecks cluster in a place like the Mediterranean where many migrants ships have sank,  they can help the marine environment as they become a habitat over time that foster the growth of marine plants and animals which improve water quality. Some of these spots have become ecotourism hubs. Wrecks however can damage coral reefs, which affect its growth, and harm future marine communities with metals and chemicals.

Local and international response
Malta has history of reluctance to rescue migrants due its fear of being overrun being a small country. Though the Maltese Armed Forces Search and Rescue who have often been known to refuse to rescue migrants were reported to have taken survivors to Greece, the BBC said that the Maltese authorities were yet to comment on the incident as at 15 September 2014.

Times Malta reported that in a migration stakeholder meeting, Maltese Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said a holistic national migration policy was the way forward.

Andrej Mahecic of the UN affirmed that Syrians and Eritreans refugees were most of the migrants that arrived by boat. Pope Francis called for ‘a universal network of cooperation’ to aid migrants, while Libya's Justice minister called on her neighbours support as his country was at civil war. Amidst rising anti-immigration protests in Germany from far-right populists, Angela Merkel condemned the protests and warned Germans not to be used by extremists against immigrants.

Immediate mortality and morbidity implications
The International Organisation of Migration (IOM) confirm all but 9 passengers were lost during the sinking of the vessel off the coast of Malta. Two Palestinian survivors were rescued by another vessel and transported to Sicily for treatment. One of the Palestinian survivors reported that he hung on to a life boat for a day and a half with 6 other passengers, all of whom disappeared under the surface over the 36-hour period, one of the Palestinian survivors reported clinging to a life ring with a 14-year-old boy, telling each other their life story in order to stay awake.

The event related mortality rate was so high due to the deliberate nature of the incident, referred to as mass murder in some reports. The survivors were eventually picked up by a Panama-registered container ship, the Pegasus, which was carrying 386 migrants rescued from yet another boat.

Malta's armed forces reported flying the other survivors to Greece, all of whom were suffering from hypothermia and were treated in Hania.

Long-term consequences of the disaster
Estimations by the IOM tally about 2,900 migrants died in 2014 across the Mediterranean against 700 for all of 2013. In the wake of such loss of life during 2014, much work has been done to understand the continual cycle of illegal immigration which in 2019, saw 80% of all (125,000 Total border crossings) migrants entering Europe via the Mediterranean Sea. Two Egyptian researchers working for the Egyptian Initiative for personal rights have uncovered three main smuggling rings; networks of brokers, drivers and boat crews. In some cases, the midlevel brokers are Syrian refugees, unable to get a work permit in Egypt, who join the operation in exchange for free passage for their families on the boats to Europe.

According to the UN, analysis up to the end of the 2018 reports that Malta still ranks in the top 10 host countries for refugees.

Short-term consequences of the disaster
There are a number of short-term consequences of the 2016 Migrant Shipwreck. The loss of life whilst migrants crossed North Africa to Europe, according to NBC News, made it the ‘deadliest migrant boat disaster in European history’. Leading on from this, it prompted Italian prosecutors to launch an investigation into the ‘human traffickers committing mass murder’. So, it brought attention to the legal status of migrants and that someone should be accountable for their deaths. Thirdly, this news spread to families in other countries and deterred many from attempting the voyage through the Mediterranean Sea.

Lessons emerged from the disaster
One main lesson learnt would be the urgent need for European nations to support those who have been rescued by providing additional and better facilities (UN News, 2014). Their mental trauma is visible in video reports and must also be addressed. The stories from the survivors have been important and contributed to the wider rhetoric of other survivor accounts. The UN stated, ‘It is necessary, said the agency, to identify longer-term solutions for refugees based on humanitarian needs, including facilitated access to family reunification’. In light of this the ‘UNHCR called for a joint European response, making use of international resources instead of launching separate, disjointed programs’.