Anguish and dismay all over the world for the massacre of Steccato di Cutro, on the Ionian coast of Calabria where a boat full of migrants was wrecked last night.
The shipwreck at Steccato di Cutro
24 hours after the shipwreck, there is still no reliable number of people who were on board the vessel which departed 4 days ago from the Turkey. According to some survivors they would have been around 180. For others many more, at least 250. At the moment around 80 people have been recovered alive; 21 of them were taken to hospital, one of them is in serious condition. The number of corpses recovered is 59; forty-six were found on the spot, three others on the beach of Botricello, in the Catanzaro area.
Eight more in "Le Castella" of Isola Capo Rizzuto and one in Crotone. Naturally, these are provisional numbers precisely because the exact number of people who had undertaken the journey by sea to Italy is not known. The migrants came from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Syria; they were on a caique (fishing boat) which could not withstand the force of the stormy sea and which broke apart a few meters from the coast. Among the victims there are also twins of a few years and a baby of a few months, less than a year old.
The reactions of the political world
The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella in expressing the pain for the shipwreck off the coast of Crotone, calls for "a strong commitment from the international community to remove the root causes of the flows of migrants. Wars, persecutions, terrorism, poverty, territories made inhospitable by climate change. It is equally essential - adds the head of state - that the EU finally takes on concrete responsibility for governing the migration phenomenon in order to rescue it from human traffickers, directly engaging itself in migration policies".
"Deep sorrow for the many human lives cut short by human traffickers". The Prime Minister says so Giorgia Meloni, underlining that “the action of those who today speculate on these dead are self-explanatory, after having exalted the illusion of unregulated immigration. The government - adds the premier - is committed to preventing the departures and with them the consummation of these tragedies, and will continue to do so, first of all by demanding maximum collaboration from the departure and provenance states".
The massacre of Cutro, another ugly page in the history of Europe and the world
“I am deeply saddened by the terrible shipwreck off the Calabrian coast. The resulting loss of life of innocent migrants is a tragedy. All together, we must redouble our efforts for the Pact on Migration and Asylum and for the Action Plan on the Central Mediterranean”. The president of the European Commission writes it on Twitter Ursula von der Leyen.
“Member states have to come forward and find a solution. Now. The EU needs common and up-to-date rules that allow us to face the challenges of migration”. The president of the European Parliament declares it on social media Robert Metsol stating that “the tragedy that took place off the coast of Crotone leaves me angry and heartbroken. There are plans to update and reform European rules on asylum and migration – adds Metsola – Member States should not leave them there”.
Thousands of desperate people fleeing Africa and the Middle East
“I learned with pain of the shipwreck that took place on the Calabrian coast. Dozens of dead have already been recovered, including children. I pray for each of them, for the missing, for the other surviving migrants. I thank all those who have brought help and those who are welcoming”. This is the comment of Pope Francesco for the umpteenth and huge tragedy that for years now has transformed the Mediterranean into a cemetery for thousands of desperate poor fleeing their countries afflicted by war and famine.
(Texts and photos source Ansa)