In a recent attempt by African migrants to cross the
Mediterranean in order to start a new life in Italy and Europe as a whole, they
have found themselves part of a massive tragedy off the shores of the Lampedusa
Island in Italy. They paid the ultimate price almost 300 men, women, and
children are feared to have drowned out of 500 aboard the 20 metre vessel. The boat
itself was in sight of the shore but it had caught fire and sunk before they
could reach their destination. Witnesses of the tragic events could only
describe the Mediterranean sea “was like a morgue”.
The migrants were believed to be from Eritrea, and
Somalia where the boat left from Libyan shores. In the past decade thousands of
migrants have died in the same way but this is the worst specific incident over
the last 10 or so years.
The tragic story begun when the boats motor died on
them, which then led to the boat taking on water. The passengers had no means
of technology to call for help so they started a fire for signal, but the fuel,
mixed with water led the boat to light up. The 500 passengers crammed to one
side of the boat which left everyone to be flung or forced into the sea. It is
expected 3 out of 100 women were rescued and no children were saved.
Simona Marcelli who is a legal expert for
International Migration in Rome stated “Most of the migrants can’t swim. Only the
strongest survived.”
A young Tunisian man has been detained after the
events of this wreck, he is believed to be of the crew and also a trafficker,
he faces charges of many counts of murder. The Mediterranean is very calm at
this time of the year which means a lot of boats from Africa and the Middle
East are carrying migrants to Europe, many of which are not sea worthy. These
are desperate people trying to start a new life and the traffickers are the
people who will risk everything and take their money.
European Commission has called for Europe to step up
its efforts in preventing these horrors from occurring. The Commissioner said “we
also need to intensify our efforts to fight criminal networks exploiting human
despair”
In response to this, Italian Foreign minister said “there
is no miraculous solution to the migrant exodus issue. If there were, we would
have found it and put it into action”
People from Africa are always going to be searching
for a new life in Europe, and there is always going to be a criminal network of
traffickers willing to risk these tragedies and take them. There needs to be
stricter coastal regulations in order to stop the boats or allow assistance to
shore otherwise there will be a lot more of these types of tragedies in the
future.
James Dougherty
10/3/13
8:28pm
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