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The fates behind the numbers: Horrible details about a refugee drama are becoming public in Italy.
People die every day in the sea between North Africa and Italy. They drown or succumb to exhaustion. There are fates behind the pure numbers. The Italian media is currently reporting in detail about a rubber boat that was floating in the sea for many days – with over 80 people on board. Now we know: Most of the refugees and migrants on board starved or died of thirst.
The dinghy set sail from the Libyan port city of Zawija over a week ago. After a short time the engine stopped and the boat made a rescue call. But no one heard it. There were around 85 people on board the dinghy, including small children and women.
Shocking descriptions
Because there was far too little water and food on the boat, the first people died, survivors say. Mothers would have had to abandon their own children to the sea. It was only by chance that the ship “Ocean Viking” belonging to the rescue organization SOS Méditerranée discovered the boat. Of the 85 people on board, 60 had died. “And the 25 survivors are very weak,” says Valeria Taurino, the head of SOS Mediterranée Italy, to RAI.
Some of the survivors still have to be ventilated and provided with infusions. Those who survived talk about being hungry and thirsty for days. And about the chemical burns on his feet and legs. This is due to gasoline that leaked from the engine into the boat. Taurino reports on the tragic fate of a rescued father. He left with his wife and his child, who was only one and a half years old, and lost both of them.
Legend:
Dozens of refugees and migrants did not survive the crossing across the Mediterranean. The rescue organization SOS Méditerranée was only able to help 25 of them.
Keystone/AP/Johanna de Tessieres – SOS Méditerranée
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, continuously publishes the number of drowned and missing people. Last year 1,900 people died between Africa and Italy. That means we count over five dead and missing people every day. SOS Mediterranée and other aid organizations criticize that Italy is severely hindering their work. In fact, Rome is trying to prevent the aid organizations’ rescue ships from leaving the country with numerous requirements.
Greed for profit and political calculation
And: The Italian coast guard has been concentrating on its own territorial waters for years. While she also previously sailed into Libyan or Tunisian waters to save lives there. At the same time, the smugglers in North Africa do not shy away from sending completely overloaded and poorly equipped ships or rubber boats towards Italy. Out of pure greed for profit.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had promised to drastically reduce the number of arriving refugees and migrants. But last year more people arrived here than in a long time. This is also why the Italian governments have been trying for some time to limit the radius of action of rescue ships. And to convince North African countries to hold back refugees if possible.