The smugglers on boats very young and improvised

In November, the landings of migrants on the coasts of Sicily diminishes, at least this used to happen every year. However, they do not seem to diminish in these first days of the month in Pozzallo, where during the last weekend 713 migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa disembarked. They were on board of the vessel of the Italian Coast Guard U. Diciotti, which rescued two boats in difficulties and had on board also the passengers of other six boats that had been previously assisted by others. A part of the 700 persons have been brought to the reception centre of Pozzallo after the identification process, while others were sent to other facilities of the peninsula.

Disappearing among the large numbers

They have reached the port of Catania tonight, the survivors of the immense tragedy of these days. 950 missing people to which are added new victims of the shipwreck that happened in the Aegean Sea this night, and others scattered on the coasts of Libya. These tragic numbers announced after the recent tragedies leave without words who for months and years of talk and false promises has heard too many of them. But it’s exactly this hypocrisy and opportunism of the official rhetoric that makes it inevitable to give expression to testimonies of those who have a historical depth in regard to the sensational news of the moment.

The arrivals continue at Lampedusa. Survivors’ testimonies of the shipwreck of 11 October, "the Libyans shot at us"

Lampedusa is still receiving new arrivals of migrants, mainly from Syria and the Horn of Africa but also from some West African countries, particularly Ghana. Nights ago migrants arrived at the Favaloro pier, transported by Coast Guard patrol boats. The 14 migrants from Somalia and Eritrea were found in the hold of a boat that was taking on water off the coast of Libya. Some of the Somalis who arrived in Lampedusa recounted that all the other fleeing migrants had been transferred from their boat into an unidentified ship with Libyan personnel and Bengalese, to be taken back to Libya. These 14 had been the exception since they had been physically unable to climb up onto the deck from the hold where they were later found. They were abandoned at sea, until the Italian patrols spotted them.