Surviving Eritreans of shipwreck from 3rd of October are transferred from Lampedusa to Pozzallo

Being transferred from the CSPA (First Reception Centre) of Lampedusa on Sunday 12th of January, thus after more than 100 days on the island, the seven Eritreans (six men and one woman), who are survivors of the shipwreck of 3rd of October, have finally left Lampedusa. Leaving the island by ship in the late morning, they arrived at Porto Empedocle at 20 pm. On Monday, they got accompanied to the court in Palermo, where they had to testify in the ongoing case against the alleged smuggler. At the end of the hearing, they were brought to the CSPA (First Reception Centre) of Pozzallo, without being notified about it, before.

Eritrean refugees from the 3rd of October shipwreck got transferred from Lampedusa only after 101 days

101 days have passed since the shipwreck of 3rd of October, when 366 people lost their lives. Only today, the last seven Eritreans, six men and one woman, who were forced to stay on the island for juridical reasons (according to the statements of minister Alfano), were transferred from the CSPA (First Reception Centre) on Lampedusa. It took 101 days to transfer them to Palermo, where they will be questioned at court, tomorrow. Thus, only six Syrian refugees remain on the island, forced to stay for juridical reasons, too. Also they have been on Lampedusa since months, as they arrived on 14th of October. According to the vice mayor of Lampedusa, they will be transferred on 15th of January.

Lampedusa: Khalid Must be Transferred. The words of his Lawyers

We publish the second press release drafted by the lawyers of Khalid, the young Syrian whose video made public the treatment of guests inside the immigrant reception centre at Lampedusa, where he, together with 26 other migrants, is still being detained for reasons of justice after approximately two months.

Editing staff of Borderline Sicilia

Letter from Mussie Zerai on the affairs at Lampedusa

The Honourable Angelino Alfano, Interior Minister

The Honourable Dr Francesca Ferrandino, Prefect of Agrigento

I am writing this open letter to you in order to ask for a logical explanation, assuming that there is one, for what we have seen happening at Lampedusa shown on the TV news (TG2 Rai), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL7M3ykTci0 in which the guests at the reception centre are disinfected like animals in the open air, exposed to the elements, in winter, above all without any respect to their human dignity, methods which have only ever been seen in the documentary films of the concentration camps in which the Jews were subjected to similar treatment by the Nazis.

Life on the frontline – Lampedusa more than a month after the 3 October shipwreck

Nicola Grigion, Meltingpot –  One and a half months after the dramatic night of October 3, we return to Lampedusa to tell the story about the reality of life on this last scrap of land at the southernmost extremity of Europe now that the media spotlight has faded and life has gone back to how it always is: where schools do double shifts; where it is not possible to give birth in the hospital; where petrol prices are the highest in Europe; living the uncertainty of a life in which destiny and decisions are made elsewhere.

The Lampedusa disaster: the bodies arrive in Sicily. Family members wait to learn of the final destination

It ended late yesterday afternoon, the transfer of the first coffins of over 300 victims of the devastating shipwreck of 3 October, transferred from Lampedusa to Porto Empedocle on an Italian Navy ship. Here we publish a number of photos showing the loading of coffins onto trucks, before a crowd of about 300 people, among which there stood also the families of the deceased migrants, who had wanted to pay tribute to the victims of the worst shipwreck in our times.

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.