(CNN)It was the latest in a series of dangerous voyages as hundreds of men, women and children boarded a boat in Libya, hoping to make it safely to Europe.Read the whole story here.
But after a couple of days at sea, in the dark of night Saturday, the ship was in distress in the Mediterranean and sent out an SOS.
As rescuers approached, the migrants -- perhaps 700 people on board -- moved to one side of their boat, hoping to be saved. Their movement caused the large, multilevel boat to capsize, sending the desperate crowd plunging into the frigid water, their chance of survival slim.
While the shipwreck was an accident, human traffickers facilitate risky trips like this, risking people's lives by putting them on rickety ships in unpredictable waters.
"Gangs of criminals are putting people on a boat, sometimes even at gunpoint," Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said. "They're putting them on the road to death, really, and nothing else."
Malta is working with Italy in the rescue operations.
It's "genocide -- nothing less than genocide, really," Muscat told CNN.
"Our troops, together with the Italian navy, are literally looking through the bodies to try to find someone who's still alive," he said.
My take?
This is going to get nasty. Southern Europe cannot afford this massive influx of people even if they wanted them...and I'm not sure they do. Additionally EU laws place the entire continent at risk if some of these people are actually terrorist mixed in with people trying for a better life.
Between austerity, tight govt budgets and a population that sometimes doesn't seem to want to assimilate (don't go high and to the left...just my opinion...it means nothing), we're looking at the next flashpoint.
Oh and do you want proof of this in another country? Check out what's happening in S. Africa. The headline...What's behind xenophobic attacks in South Africa?
Yeah. Call me crazy but the entire world seems headed to one massive flashpoint.
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