The old fishing boat, a battered artifact about 20 meters long, set sail from the port of Izmir in western Turkey. The ship, loaded with around 177 people, spent about four days sailing around the Greek coast in search of the tip of southern Italy through the Ionian Sea. The route is becoming increasingly common in the trips offered by traffickers to migrants fleeing Asian countries. But almost always this is done with relatively safe sailboats and with larger assets. This time, when the boat was already 150 meters from shore, after traveling about 1,200 kilometers, it was smashed against the rocks by a violent wave and violently broken in two. The migrants fell into the sea. Some could swim to the shore of the beach of Steccato di Cutro, a Calabrian tourist resort 20 kilometers from Crotona. At least 59 others drowned, their bodies covered with a blanket and landed in the sand or were rescued by coastguards. About 20 children died, including at least one newborn. The shipwreck, one of the worst on the Italian coast, is another bloodstain in Italy’s and the European Union’s repeated failure to create a common migration policy.
The first hypotheses suggest that the ship ran onto a reef and then crashed into the rocks. Information, distributed by the Italian section of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also ruled out, based on the statements of survivors, that there was an explosion as initially suggested. Later, when the sea got rougher, the migrants “didn’t have time to ask for help” and couldn’t prevent the boat from crashing into the rocks and breaking in two from the force of the waves.
Some of the 80 survivors – 21 were transferred to various hospitals in the area – made it to the coast on their own. Just like the parts of the ship that were shattered by the impact. “They are miraculously alive,” said a Red Cross spokesman. Among them is a Turkish national whom police have accused of human trafficking and is responsible for the fatal journey. Documentation of at least one other person who accompanied him at work was also found, but his body was not found.
#shipwreck #crotone
Non ci sono casi da ustioni tra i sopravvissuti il che escluderebbe un’explosione. The imbarcazione probably hit a scoglio. The person lies dead in the water 150 meters from the river.— MediciSenzaFrontiere (@MSF_ITALIA) February 26, 2023
Italian authorities, who are collecting testimonies from survivors to clarify how many people were on the boat, fear the death toll could increase due to poor sea conditions. Many of the bodies surfaced on the beaches near Steccato this Sunday. Others were collected from nearby bodies of water. In fact, MSF reports that one of the bodies was found in Catanzaro, very far from the scene of the accident.
The images shared by the local press show the parts of a completely wrecked wooden boat on the beach. “When we got to the site of the shipwreck, we saw bodies floating everywhere,” Laura De Paoli, a doctor with the Order of Malta’s Italian Relief Corps (CISOM) told local newspaper Il Crotonese, “we rescued two men who were one.” hold child. Unfortunately the little one was dead.
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the Turkish route
The route linking Turkey to Calabria and Puglia in southern Italy by sea is also long, dangerous and one of the most expensive for migrants, often ranking second to routes crossing the central and western Mediterranean. The researchers were able to show that this is not an occasional phenomenon and that it has been active for almost a decade, but that it has been increasing recently. According to Frontex, around 42,800 people used the so-called Turkey route in 2022. As in the case of the shipwreck on Sunday, the majority come from war zones such as Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan, but also from Iran, Pakistan and even Nigerians.
Several Italian prosecutors, including Calabria, alarmed by the phenomenon, have launched investigations. They have noticed that the crossing is not only made with battered barges (like this Sunday), but very often with sailboats, which are considered safer and less visible. Human trafficking is managed by Turkish gangs, some even have criminal groups that have a constant presence in Calabria, but traffickers are almost always from Russia and Ukraine. Last November, a sailing ship with 99 Afghans and Pakistanis on board arrived in Sicily. The skippers were of Russian nationality, but the ship had a Ukrainian flag.
Many of the migrants who choose this route make a stopover in Greece and then continue their exodus via the Balkans. In this case it was not so. A European Border Agency (Frontex) plane patrolling the area sighted the barge about 40 miles off the Italian coast on Saturday afternoon. There was no NGO in this area. Normally there are none, but moreover, the latest decrees of the government of Giorgia Meloni – imposing strict sanctions, not allowing multiple rescues and assigning ports far from the place of the shipwreck – have shown their effect in the Mediterranean very difficult. Two rescue teams from Calabria and Apulia set sail. But terrible weather conditions prevented them from reaching the area and they had to return to port. When they were finally able to reach the area, they could only prove the shipwreck and the decomposition of the boat, which was completely destroyed by strong waves.
Meloni against the traffickers
The tragedy, which has already brought the death toll in the Mediterranean Sea to 26,000 in ten years, will deeply mark the political debate over immigration in Italy, which has almost always become a rift for war between right and left. Prime Minister Meloni on Sunday expressed her “deep regret” over the shipwreck and vowed to halt irregular sea migration to avoid further tragedy. “The government is committed to avoiding departures [de migrantes] and with them these tragedies, and we will continue to do so,” the note released by the executive said. Meloni has indicated that in the first place “it will require the maximum cooperation of the countries of origin and origin [de los migrantes]“.
The leader of the 5 Star Movement and former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte complains about the responsibility of the European partners: “The Mediterranean Sea is still stained with blood. Now we must put the slogans aside and make Europe truly present, supportive and united in managing and controlling migration flows. We owe it to ourselves, to our values, to the hope that was in the eyes of those who died today.”
criticism of the European Union
For his part, the President of the Calabria Region, Roberto Occhiuto, has criticized the Community’s migration policy. “What has the EU done over the years? Where is the Europe that is supposed to guarantee security and legality? What happened to the dialogue missions with the migrants’ countries of origin? All questions to which there is unfortunately no answer today,” he denounces.
The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, has also called for EU intervention. “It is crucial that the European Union finally takes on the specific responsibility of directing the migration phenomenon in order to snatch it from the traffickers, engage directly in migration policy and support cooperation for the development of the countries from which young People are seen, forced to move out because of a lack of prospects”.
Despite repeated attempts, the European Union has not been able to find a formula to stop irregular immigration on its territory. The migration pact that the European Commission launched in 2020 has practically come to a standstill due to the deep differences between the community partners. Inequalities have worsened with the arrival of some far-right governments, as in the case of Italy, where Giorgia Meloni has taken a strong hand in immigration affairs, even clashing head-on with countries like France. In a minimum agreement, European leaders decided earlier this month to mobilize “significant European funds” to strengthen the borders of member states hardest hit by migration flows, which have increased significantly in recent months along migratory routes and the eastern Mediterranean.
The Pope referred to the tragedy during Sunday’s Angelus prayer. “This morning I learned with pain of the shipwreck that occurred on the Calabrian coast, near Crotone,” said the Pope. “I pray for each and every one of them, for those who have disappeared, for the other migrants who survived,” Francisco continued, thanking the rescue services for their work.
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