54 illegal immigrants die at the Mediterranean Sea

Fifty-four people have died of dehydration while trying to reach Italy through Libya after a 15-day trip on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the sole survivor was an Eritrean man. Fishermen found the survivor off the Tunisian coast late Monday. They alerted the Tunisian Coast Guard who rescued the man and he was immediately taken to a hospital where he is being treated for dehydration and exposure. The survivor indicated that 55 people boarded the boat in Libya late June and a day later the boat reached the Italian coast, but high winds forced the boat back to sea. Within a few days the inflatable boat was punctured and air started to leak out. The accident comes within a series of crises where thousands of immigrants have died while attempting to reach southern Europe from north Africa in small, overcrowded boats.