(ANSAmed) - Rome, April 20 - The UN refugee agency UNHCR, has spoken to survivors of a big shipwreck in the Mediterranean, the Guardian said Wednesday. The boat with around 500 people on board left Libya (and not, as initially reported, Egypt), heading for Italy and the migrants were Somalis, Sudanese, Ethiopians and Egyptians. Hundreds of migrants are believed to have drowned.
European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said Wednesday that "we have the first signs that traffickers are trying to change the routes of (migrant) flows in other directions. We are in touch with the authorities of neighbouring countries (to Greece) and tomorrow we will hold an important meeting in Thessaloniki where the interior ministers of the four neighbouring countries (including Macedonia) will meet to address this issue". The Balkan Route has been shut off by an EU deal on returns and resettlement with Turkey.