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MIGRANT

Italian forensics experts to identify migrant dead

A crack team of Italian forensics experts will help the hundreds of migrants killed in a 2015 shipwreck, the interior ministry said Friday, as the navy prepares to recover the bodies from the bottom of the Mediterranean.

Published: 2 April 2016 08:59 CEST
Italian forensics experts to identify migrant dead
Mohammed Ali Malek (R), the alleged captain of the boat, after being pulled from the water. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP
Over 700 people drowned last April when their boat sank after a collision at sea during the crossing from north Africa. The navy has so far recovered 169 bodies from near the wreck, which lies 380 metres (around 1,245 feet) down off Libya.
   
The recovery of the ship — and the majority of the bodies, still trapped inside — is expected late next month.
   
Italy's missing person prefect Vittorio Piscitelli has been overseeing a project to catalogue the victims' DNA and other distinguishing features in a database to help relatives track down their missing loved ones.
   
Now the herculean task of identifying the dead will be given a major boost by an agreement signed with the interior and education ministries, which has already seen over 20 universities pledge their support and assets.
 
The current collaboration with universities in Milan, Catania, Messina and Palermo will be extended to “the entire Italian university system”, with volunteers offering “skills in forensic medicine, forensic pathology and
forensic genetics”, the interior ministry said in a statement.
   
Since the first large-scale migrant wrecks off Lampedusa island in 2013, Italy has been looking at ways to establish the names of all those who perish while fleeing war, poverty or persecution in Africa, the Middle East or South Asia.
   
But there are no passenger lists on crossings organised by traffickers, documents are quickly destroyed in water and many people are not reported missing because relatives fear repercussions from oppressive governments.
   
The migrant boat, carrying as many as 800 people, sank after running into a Portuguese freighter which had raced to its rescue, the collision sending its passengers over to one side and causing the vessel to tip over.
   
The man accused of being the boat's captain, Tunisian Mohammed Ali Malek, was arrested after he was pulled to safety with 27 other men — the sole survivors — and is currently on trial in Italy on charges of multiple manslaughter.
   
Malek and his alleged second mate, Syrian Mahmoud Bikhit, are also accused of causing a shipwreck and people smuggling.

HERO

Could street hawker hero be rewarded with Spanish residency and a right to work?

Residents in Denia have launched a petition calling for Gorgui Lamine Sow, the undocumented migrant who leapt into a burning building to save a disabled man, to be rewarded for his heroic deed.

Published: 11 December 2019 13:17 CET
Could street hawker hero be rewarded with Spanish residency and a right to work?
Gorgui Lamine Sow was presented with a Superman T-shirt by the man he saved. Photo: Gorgiou Lamine Sow

A petition registered on change.org is lobbying for Lamine, who arrived from Senegal by boat two years ago, to be given residency and work papers in recognition of his saving the life of Alex Caudeli on Friday.

Lamine scaled a wall and entered the burning building, lifted Caudeli, who is unable to walk following a long illness, over his shoulder and brought him to safety after a heater caused a fire in his first floor room.

But as quickly as he had appeared, he vanished; before anyone had a chance to thank him or find out his name.  

The Local tracked him down on Monday thanks to Roberta Etter, who lives next door to Caudeli and witnessed the extraordinary rescue.


Gorgui Lamine Sow carried Alex Caudeli over his shoulder to safety. Photo: Roberta Etter

The 20-year-old shared details of his life describing how he lived in one drafty room with his girlfriend, Gana, and seven-month-old daughter Ndye, and that as a family they travelled 40km each day by bus from Gandia to eek out a living selling bracelets in Denia’s port.

On Tuesday he was more positive saying reaction to his story had been huge and he hoped it might result in regularization and a more steady life for him and his family.

“I hope to get papers and a home so we can live here peacefully in Spain,” he told The Local by telephone.

“I’d really like to be a truck driver,” he revealed.

Just as the petition was launched, the mayor of Denia said he has asked the central government to fast track residency for Lamine and local media reported that the request is currently being analysed.

Denia’s town hall also plans a ceremony to recognise Lamine with a bravery award.

On Tuesday Lamine met the man whose life he saved. Caudeli, who was discharged from hospital on Monday after being treated for burns, had bandages on his face and hands

“It was great to meet him and see him doing ok,” Lamine told The Local after the meeting. “He gave me a superman T-shirt and one for the baby.”

It's not the first time that a heroic act changed the life of an illegal immigrant.  Last year France awarded citizenship to Mamoudou Gassama, an immigrant from Mali who scaled an apartment building in Paris to save a child clinging to the outside of a balcony. He is now a firefighter.

To sign the petition CLICK HERE

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