2023-08-09 21:58:08
The central Mediterranean has once again become a death trap for 41 migrants trying to reach European shores from Africa. A boat, with 45 people on board according to survivors, capsized on Friday due to bad weather near the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. Only four passengers managed to survive: a 13-year-old boy -who was traveling unaccompanied-, a woman and two men, originally from the Ivory Coast and Guinea, who were rescued this Wednesday by a Coast Guard patrol boat from the transalpine country.
The ship, seven meters long and with a metallic hull, set sail last Thursday from the port of Sfax, in eastern Tunisia. Just six hours later, in the early hours of the morning, she capsized and sank when, “suddenly, we were overwhelmed by a tidal wave,” one of the survivors described to the Coast Guard. All the passengers fell into the water, including three minors. They hoped to reach the Old Continent. Although the authorities have not found the lifeless bodies of the disappeared, they rule out that they could have survived after six days at the mercy of intense waves and without any support.
Fifteen of them wore life jackets. However, eleven perished. Only the four rescued managed to remain unscathed, who at that moment faced their own atrocious odyssey. They remained adrift for hours, simply floating among the waves, until the currents brought them closer to the remains of another boat, probably used by immigrants who also sank on a previous voyage. The four remained clinging to the remains and taking advantage of the air chambers inside until they were rescued.
The Sea-Watch rescue group assured that one of its surveillance planes captured this Wednesday the moment in which a cargo ship rescued the shipwrecked. They were then transferred to a Coast Guard ship, which brought them to the mainland in Lampedusa, where they have applied for asylum. Once on the island, exhausted and shaken, the migrants received medical and psychological assistance. According to the Red Cross, they are in good health despite having spent several days in the open sea without water or food.
Faced with this tragic shipwreck, the United Nations has highlighted the “urgency of a clear coordination and search mechanism to prevent the Mediterranean from continuing to claim lives.” The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) have also called on the European Union to collaborate and seek “safe routes” for migration. In a matter of days, 160 migrants have died in the Mediterranean.
Critical point
Lampedusa is the closest European territory to the Tunisian coast. The authorities say that Sfax, a port city some 130 kilometers away, is a frequent point of departure used by asylum seekers bound for Europe.
In the last week, some 2,000 foreigners have landed on the island. The region only has one reception center with a capacity for 300 people, but currently houses around 1,500. This panorama makes the territory a critical point of the migratory crisis that is ravaging Italy. For this reason, transfers to Sicily or the peninsula are planned to reduce the occupation, according to local media reports. The Ministry of the Interior affirms that more than 93,000 migrants have arrived in that country this year, more than double those registered in the same period of 2022.
in context
1,800 people have lost their lives this year trying to reach Europe from African shores.
Succession of shipwrecks In the last five days, 46 people have died in the Mediterranean in two shipwrecks and fifty have been rescued after another small boat sank.
1,500 migrants remain in a Lampedusa shelter with a maximum capacity of 300 people.
Crisis in the desert Tunisia has expelled more than 1,200 migrants from its territory, remaining trapped in the desert, while Libya does not want to open its borders either.
In the waters of the Mediterranean, 25,975 migrants have drowned since 2014, according to official records. However, humanitarian organizations raise that figure substantially, since thousands are supposed to have died anonymously trying to cross these waters. Only during these months of 2023, more than 1,800 people have died in the Sicilian channel.
Friday’s sinking is added to a succession of shipwrecks that occurred in just a few weeks as a result of bad weather at sea. On Monday 16 migrants died off the coast of Tunisia and Western Sahara. And on Sunday, at least thirty people were declared missing after two small boats capsized near Sfax.
The UN highlighted this Wednesday the “absolute lack of scruples” of people traffickers who send immigrants in precarious boats to a rough sea. Italian Save the Children spokeswoman Giovanna Di Benedetto wondered “how many more calls do European Union governments need” to take action.
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