A migrant boat was shipwrecked on Thursday off the small Italian island of Lampedusa, leaving around 40 people missing. This was stated on Friday by the spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Italy, Chiara Cardoletti.
Among the missing is at least one newborn, Chiara Cardoletti wrote in a tweet. The iron boat, which left Sfax in Tunisia, was carrying 46 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa – Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Cameroon – a spokesman for the International Organization for Refugees told AFP. Migrations (OMI), Flavio Di Giacomo.
Naufragio al largo di #Lampedusa: 40 persone disperse, tra cui almeno 1 neonato. E’ inaccettabile continuare a contare i morti alle porte d’Europa, un meccanismo di soccorso in mare coordinato e condiviso tra stati e’ ormai una questione anche di coscienza.
— Chiara Cardoletti (@chiaraUNHCR) June 23, 2023
The boat, faced with bad weather conditions, strong wind and big waves, capsized. ” Some survivors were taken to Lampedusa and others brought back to Tunisia “, always according to Flavio Di Giacomo. “ Among the missing are seven women and a minor. The survivors are all adult men. “, he added.
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” Since November, we have noticed more arrivals of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa than Tunisians » by the Tunisian road, « safer than the Libyan road because it is shorter “, he observed. A phenomenon due, according to him to the strong discrimination that migrants from sub-Saharan Africa suffer in Tunisia, which they therefore flee “.
” We don’t know of some shipwrecks »
” It is unacceptable to continue counting the dead at the gates of Europe “, denounced for her part Chiara Cardoletti, in allusion to the deadly shipwrecks of migrant boats which have already occurred in Italy, Greece and Spain.
The spokesman also underlined the fragility of iron boats, badly welded, arriving from Tunisia and sinking at the first damage. ” We therefore have no knowledge of certain shipwrecks “, he lamented, calling for his wishes to “ patrols of European ships to monitor the Tunisian route, as well as the Libyan route, otherwise we will witness a disaster this summer “.
An opinion shared by the spokeswoman for the UNHCR in Italy. ” A rescue mechanism at sea coordinated and shared between States is now also a matter of conscience “, she estimated. Located about 145 km from the Tunisian coast, Lampedusa is one of the main entry points for migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Last year, more than 46,000 people landed there, out of a total of 105,000 arrivals in Italy, according to the UNHCR.
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( With AFP)