A piece of the boat and a piece of clothing from the deadly shipwreck of migrants in Steccato di Cutro near Crotone, Italy, February 28, 2023. REMO CASILLI / REUTERS
The late arrival of help to come to the aid of the migrant boat that sank in southern Italy on Sunday raises questions on Friday March 3, when the toll of this tragedy rose to 68 dead.
“Migrants: Relief Surveyheadlined the daily Il Corriere della Sera. “The prosecution wants to understand why the protocol for interventions at sea has not been activated“, he explains.
TO HAVE ALSO – Italy: at least 58 migrants dead in a shipwreck near the coast
68 dead in this tragedy
According to the information available at this stage, there is a six-hour gap in the night from Saturday to Sunday between the moment the boat carrying some 180 people was spotted and the start of rescue operations. The overloaded boat sank not far from shore in a storm, probably after hitting a sandbar.
According to the latest official report published by the prefecture of Crotone, the city of Calabria where a burning chapel shelters the coffins of the victims, 68 people died in this tragedy, after the discovery Thursday of the body of a young adult. 54 victims have been identified, including 48 of Afghan nationality, three of Pakistani nationality, one of Syrian nationality, one of Palestinian nationality and one of Tunisian nationality, according to the prefecture.
Read alsoReturn of the double penalty, criteria for the “short-term occupations” title, lessons from the Ocean Viking… What the immigration bill contains
The prosecutor’s office in Crotone has opened an investigation into the relief organization to determine if possible crimes were committed by implementing the operations too late. The Crotone Carabinieri were therefore tasked with reconstructing the chronology of the reports received by the Coast Guard and Customs and the actions taken subsequently. The European Border Surveillance Agency, Frontex, said earlier this week that one of its patrol planes had spotted a boat on Saturday evening “heavily overloaded with passengers“, left last week from Izmir in Turkey, heading for Italy and had alerted the Italian authorities.
From the data collected by the carabinieri, the prosecution will have to determine whether the rules of rescue at sea have been respected or if errors have been made, and if so by whom. Under Italian law, the possible crimes committed in this case are “no assistance to the person in danger” And “negligence causing disaster“.
The migrant file is a very sensitive political subject in Italy, a country of first entry where hundreds of thousands of migrants have arrived in recent years. Rome criticizes its partners in the European Union for a lack of solidarity in the management of this thorny problem. According to the Italian Interior Ministry, nearly 14,000 migrants have landed in Italy since the start of the year, compared to around 5,200 during the same period last year and 4,200 in 2021.