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MIGRANT CRISIS

More migrants brought ashore to Italy as locals march for shipwreck victims

Three boats overcrowded with migrants were brought safely to Italian ports on Saturday, the coastguard said, as thousands of marchers remembered the victims of last month's deadly shipwreck off Calabria's coast.

Published: 12 March 2023 12:07 CET
Migrants aboard a Guardia di Finanza and Navy military vessel are transferred from the migrant centre on the Italian Island of Lampedusa to another centre
Migrants aboard a Guardia di Finanza and Navy military vessel are transferred from the migrant centre on the Italian Island of Lampedusa to another centre in July 11, 2022. More than 1,300 migrants were rescued on Saturday.  Photo: Alessandro SERRANO / AFP

The rescue of more than 1,300 migrants came the same day as three more bodies from the shipwreck nearly two weeks ago were found, bringing the death toll to 76.

The bodies recovered were those of two girls, both under the age of 10, and that of an adult male, said Italian news reports.

The February 26 shipwreck just off the shore of Calabria, has drawn sharp criticism of the right-wing government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for its failure to intervene in time to save the migrants.

In Cutro on Saturday, near the site of the disaster, thousands of marchers accompanied a cross made of splintered wood from the shipwreck, which was carried through the streets to the water’s edge.

“This cross is a symbol of suffering today,” said Domenico “Mimmo” Lucano, a former Calabrian mayor, the ANSA news agency reported.

The former mayor of Riace, Domenico Lucano (front L) and others carry a cross made from debris of the February shipwreck that killed at leat 76 migrants, as they take part in a protest march on March 11, 2023 in Steccato di Cutro. (Photo by Gianluca CHININEA / AFP)

“During these emergencies, Calabrian communities are shaken, and what prevails is a spirit of solidarity that the government doesn’t show,” he said.

Lucano is known for his activism on behalf of migrants.

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On Friday, the coastguard began a rescue operation of three boats, one south of the Calabrian city of Crotone and two further south off Roccella Ionica.

Coastguard videos showed a large fishing boat pitching violently back and forth in nighttime rough seas with dozens of people visible on the deck. Other images showed inflatable rescue boats approaching another fishing vessel packed with people.

The 487 migrants onboard the first boat were safely brought to the port of Crotone at about 0200 GMT Saturday morning, the coastguard said.

Another operation in which 500 migrants were rescued to a coastguard ship was wrapping up, it added. ANSA had earlier reported that the ship had docked at the port of Reggio Calabria.

People end a protest march on the beach at the site of the shipwreck on March 11, 2023 in Steccato di Cutro, Calabria region, southern Italy, as part of the movement ‘Stop the massacre, now!’ launched after February’s shipwreck. (Photo by Gianluca CHININEA / AFP)

Two coastguard patrol vessels rescued a third boat carrying 379 people, transferring the migrants to a Navy ship headed to the Sicilian port of Augusta, it said.

Italy’s defence ministry said it had begun the air transfer of migrants away from the crowded migrant centre on the island of Lampedusa, which it said was now over capacity. 

The recent shipwreck has put the government on the defensive.

On Thursday, Meloni held a cabinet meeting at Cutro, near the disaster site, and announced a new decree that included stiffer prison sentences for human traffickers, but no new measures to help save lives.

Her far-right Brothers of Italy party, which won elections last year, had promised to curb arrivals, but Italy has recently seen a sharp rise in the number of migrants attempting to reach its shores via the dangerous Mediterranean crossing.

The interior ministry says more than 17,500 people have arrived by sea so far this year — almost three times the number for the same period last year.

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MIGRANT CRISIS

Search for dozens feared missing after deadly migrant shipwrecks off Italy

The Italian coastguard searched off southern Italy on Monday for survivors or the bodies of dozens of migrants feared missing, after two shipwrecks left 11 people dead.

Published: 17 June 2024 17:18 CEST
Search for dozens feared missing after deadly migrant shipwrecks off Italy

With up to 60 migrants potentially lost at sea, the coastguard said it has been looking for “possible missing persons” since late Sunday, “following the shipwreck of a sailing boat with migrants on board, presumably departing from Turkey”.

Rescue efforts began after “a ‘mayday’ from a French pleasure boat” some 120 nautical miles off the Italian coast, it said.

The French vessel alerted authorities to “the presence of the half-sunken boat”, before taking 12 surviving migrants on board.

They were then transferred to an Italian coastguard boat, which took them to the town of Roccella Ionica in southern Italy.

One of the surviving 12 died after disembarking, the coastguard said.

Around 50 migrants were missing following the shipwreck, according to ANSA news agency, while Radio Radicale put the number at 64, adding that those lost at sea were from Afghanistan and Iran.

READ ALSO: Charity warns Italy’s ban on migrant rescue planes risks lives

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it was providing “psychological assistance to all survivors”.

The team had “supported first aid activities for 12 people, including a woman who died shortly after disembarkation due to her severe medical condition”, it said.

Flooded lower deck

Further south, rescuers coming to the aid of migrants on a wooden boat off the Italian island of Lampedusa found 10 bodies below deck, the German aid group ResQship posted on X Monday.

The crew of ResQship’s vessel, the Nadir, managed to pull 51 people to safety.

“The rescue came too late for 10 people,” the German charity said.

“A total of 61 people were on the wooden boat, which was full of water. Our crew was able to evacuate 51 people, two of whom were unconscious — they had to be cut free with an axe,” it said.

“The 10 dead are in the flooded lower deck of the boat,” it added.

The survivors hailed from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt and Syria, according to ANSA, which said they had paid around $3,500 to travel in the eight-metre (26-foot) long boat.

READ ALSO: Italy approves controversial Albanian migrant deal

More than 3,150 migrants died or disappeared in the Mediterranean last year, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.

The Central Mediterranean is the deadliest known migration route in the world, representing 80 percent of the deaths and disappearances in the Mediterranean sea.

It is widely used by migrants fleeing conflict or poverty, who set off from Tunisia or Libya by boat in bids to enter the European Union via Italy.

Tough choice

The EU recently adopted a vast reform toughening immigration control at its borders.

And since coming to power in 2022, far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed to dramatically slash the number of people crossing by boat from the coast of North Africa.

Rome has brought in a slew of rules to curb the activities of charity ships accused of being a pull factor for migrants – from limiting the number of rescues to assigning them distant ports.

Under a law adopted at the start of 2023, charity ships are obliged to travel “without delay” to port as soon as their first rescue is complete – even if they become aware of other migrants in difficulty.

In recent months, the Italian coastguard has assigned increasingly distant ports to ships, sometimes in difficult weather conditions, to the detriment of vulnerable migrants’ physical and mental health.

Charity crews face a tough choice: comply with the Italian authorities by leaving migrant boats adrift despite the risk that people could die, or disobey and face having their ships impounded.

Arrivals by sea to Italy have dropped considerably since the start of the year, with some 23,725 people landing so far, compared to 53,902 in the same period in 2023, according to the interior ministry.

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