ITALIAN COASTAL patrol vessels were searching the Mediterranean yesterday for the bodies of 73 African migrants believed to have died on a dinghy that ran out of fuel during an attempted crossing to Italy from Libya.
Five Eritreans rescued in the dinghy off Lampedusa told officials they jettisoned the bodies of passengers who perished for lack of food and water in three weeks at sea, during which time 10 vessels spotted them. Only one stopped.
UN spokeswoman Laura Boldrini said vessels were “not encouraged to save migrants” after “episodes such as the four-day row in April between Italy and Malta over who should take in 140 migrants picked up by a Turkish vessel”.
Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference, said in an editorial yesterday the shunning of the migrants was akin to ignoring deportation of Jews in the 1940s. “Then it was terror and totalitarianism which shut their eyes. Today it is quiet indifference, if not irritated distaste,” it wrote.
Maltese officials alerted Italian counterparts to the migrants after a Maltese patrol found them at sea, a Maltese official said.
One Eritrean said the Maltese gave them fuel and lifejackets, two days before the Italians found them. “One of the crew turned on the motor because we were too weak, and then indicated the route we were to follow. Then, mindless of our conditions, they left.”
Italy and Libya are running joint sea patrols which have turned back 1,000 migrants since May. UN officials argue that genuine asylum seekers are being returned with no chance to apply for asylum.