IOM Says Up to 130 Dead as Boat Overturns in Mediterranean

GENEVA - As many as 130 people died this week in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). 

The NGO said calls for rescue from those on board the rubber dinghy went unheeded.  "For two days, the NGO Alarm Phone, which is responsible for sending distress calls to the relevant maritime rescue centers in the Mediterranean region, had been calling on states to uphold their responsibility towards these people and send rescue vessels," said IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli. "Unfortunately, that has not happened." Msehli said the independent rescue group SOS-Mediterranee sent a vessel, the Ocean Viking, in search of the boat. Unfortunately, when it arrived on the scene Thursday evening, the crew was confronted with the distressing sight of dozens of bodies floating around the capsized dinghy.