Shipwreck leaves scores dead off of Lampedusa

(Vatican Radio) A ship carrying African migrants toward Italy caught fire and capsized off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa on Thursday, killing over 100 people and leaving over 200 more missing. Pope Francis, who visited the island last July, asked people to pray for the victims. It was one of the deadliest accidents in recent times during the notoriously perilous crossing from Africa for migrants seeking a new life in the European Union.

“I think the reason why people continue to take these risks is because Europe has increasingly made it more difficult,” said James Stapleton, the International Communications Coordinator at Jesuit Refugee Service.

“What we are doing is that we are forcing people to take increasingly dangerous routes, and what we need to do is to intervene and to put human lives first,” he told Vatican Radio.

Listen to the full interview by Charles Collins with James Stapleton: