Remembering The Largest Massacre in the Mediterranean, And All Migrants Who Continue To Die At Sea

On the night between the 17th and 18th of April 2015, 800 people lost their lives in the largest shipwreck in the central Mediterranean Sea since the Second World War. Bangladesh, Eritrea, Nigeria and Somalia are just some of the countries where the migrants originally came from who, after departing Libya in their desperate attempt to reach Europe, were swallowed up by the sea.

Letter From a Mother

The barbarism which befalls the vast majority of migrants, people simply searching a dignified life, leaves deep and indelible wounds on their psyches, exacerbated by the violence which the Italian reception system so often inflicts upon them as well. Every day, people tell us about their tragic experiences in Libya, in the desert, on the crossing, all moments in which so many people lose someone along the way. These are journeys in which death is always present, burrowing deep down into these people's souls.

Illustration by Francesco Piobbichi

Dozens of corpses on the Libyan beaches. The body of yet another victim of the crossing arrives at Pozzallo

On July 23^rd the media reported the news of around forty bodies given up by the sea and left on the Libyan beach of Sabrata. This number was destined to rise at the weekend, when a total of 87 bodies were recovered from the same beach.

The Violence Reproduced by Emergency

Emergency considered as the only possible response. It is the institutional reaction at an international, national and local level faced with this continuing, terrifying massacre. It is a response that is being invoked with ever more force in the context of managing the phenomenon of migration in Sicily. If we recall that an emergency is “an improvised situation which has to be confronted immediately”, we can understand quite quickly how inappropriate a word it is to be used to describe the situation of the arrival, placement and “welcoming” of migrants. To make a system out of an emergency that lasts years, shows the clear will of the relevant political actors, and the absence of any institutional transparency in involving the citizenry in what is actually going on.

The Parliamentary Commission Fails The Pozzallo Hotspot: New Minors Accepted Yesterday

On June 23^rd the parliamentary commission for the inquest into migrants visited the Hotspot of Pozzallo, in order to investigate the reception centre given over to official identification. The inspection revealed a critical and concerning situation within the centre: structural inadequacies, problems with the water supply, violations and privacy and prolonged detention of unaccompanied minors. Major “attention” is given over only to the identification procedures, perfectly in line with the logic of the Hotspot approach.

We have lost even the last speck of humanity

The accounts provided by doctors present at the latest disembarkings at Palermo, Trapani and Agrigento leave no doubts about the atrocious situation being experienced by thousands of long-suffering people now arriving in Europe.

Migration: A war report - more than 300 victims within four days

By Redattore Sociale

Reporting on the migration flows in Europe these days turns into a war report. While it is discussed in the media all over the world what terminology to use to describe the phenomenon (migrants or refugees), the internet is overwhelmed with news of new tragedies that take place not far away from Europe, trying to get closer and closer to the heart of the so-called “old” continent that is closed like a “fortress”.

After the message that has shocked not only Austria but the whole of Europe, more news of deaths came from the Mediterranean. More than 100 migrants are said to have lost their lives on their way to Europe. The number of victims is increasing day by day. According to the UNHCR almost 2.500 people have been killed.

So much hypocrisy and confusion, only one certainty: death - Agrigento

Agrigento – our journey had stopped in Palermo, at the confusion and the incompetence of the local politicians, as well as the one of their national colleagues, in giving adequate answers to the phenomenon. Let’s start again this time from Agrigento, where surely the situation is not bright, on the contrary it is rather pitch dark, where everything appears as concealed by the dominant powers, where news is issued when only something very serious happens that cannot be silenced.

A young asylum seeker dies after being run over on the highway of Pian del Lago

The young men run over on the highway of the hamlet Pian del Lago last April 10 (Il Fatto Nisseno), did not survive. He died last April 20, on the intensive care unit at the hospital of Saint Elia of Caltanissetta. We were able to obtain this news through informal channels only 10 days later. No official institution spread the news. Neither the police department nor the prefecture communicated the death of an asylum seeker who died because of a run over on the highway that connects the government reception centre and the immigration office of the police department with the urban centre of Caltanissetta.

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 time of rights. New arrivals and more deaths of migrants at sea.

At least ten dead and more than thirty lost at sea. In the lasts days, with the slight, brief improvement in weather conditions, came the umpteenth and sadly predictable announcement of the more deaths of migrants. (see GdS)

Mineo CARA (Hosting Centre for Asylum Seekers): One migrant found dead

L’Urlo – Another dead person at Mineo CARA (Hosting Centre for Asylum Seekers). The dead person is an adolescent, who was found lying on the ground behind a building of the hosting center. This is also were the on-site inspection of the Caltagirone prosecution took place. The investigation does not exclude any possible scenario. 

Lampedusa: „I prayed for the whole journey“, says the doctor aboard of the speedboat

La Repubblica, by Raffaella Cosentino - During the crossing, of which the return has lasted more than 17 hours, the rescue workers also feared for their lives and even the most experienced have not felt comfortable. "We no longer had enough blankets; the wind had blown them away. Some crawled into to the engine room to warm up and we had to interrupt the journey." This is the dramatic testimony of Gabriella Lattuca who is part of the Italian rescue team which is under the command of the Maltese Navy.

Survivors of the latest tragedy land in Augusta, among them 24 casualties and 100 missing

When I reach the pier at 2 pm, in this hot, windy day, Augusta’s commercial port is in turmoil. The “Fiorillo”, a Coast Guard vessel, is full to the brim with migrants: they have been docked for over two hours, but disembarkation operations have not yet begun. I notice a group of people standing there, waiting: doctors from the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders, Civil Protection operators, representatives of the IOM, UNHCR, and Save the Children for the Praesidium, Police, Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza. Since August 1st , there are also representatives of Frontex, who interview the shipwreck survivors, and discuss with the authorities; yet they avoid at any cost giving out information on their reason of being there, and on their work.

Surviving castaways: On the totally overloaded boat 180 people died

On the website of Repubblica.it you can find a video of the first rescuing actions. Officials stated on Saturday that there were 30 dead migrants. But the rescued people reveal other horrible stories: They are talking about many more dead people, not just by drowning, but by stepped or beaten victims.

29-year old man passes away at the “Umberto I” Hospital in Syracuse

We are dismayed to learn that this morning a young Gambian man passed away at the “Umberto I” Hospital in Syracuse, at 10.30 a.m. The young man is rumoured to have reached Sicily on April 11, possibly docking in Augusta. While he was still on the pier, IOM operators immediately flagged the young Gambian as a vulnerable case, as he was showing clear medical problems related to his manifest blindness. Nonetheless, the young man was placed at the “Umberto I” Hospital in Syracuse, a First Reception Centre devoid of any defined legal status, or of personnel qualified for the reception of vulnerable subjects, let alone one qualified for the reception of individuals with serious health conditions.

The Borderline Sicilia Editorial Department

Translation: Angela Paradiso