He also stressed that the boat began its route in Tunisian waters and added that the first investigations indicate that the seven deceased migrants, from Bangladesh, died of hypothermia, according to Italian media.
In this sense, he explained that three of the bodies were located inside the boat, while other migrants died due to their deteriorating state of health while being transferred to Italian coasts by the Coast Guard.
“Three people died during the crossing, another four arrived with severe hypothermia and died during their transfer to the island, after being intercepted by the Italian coastguard”, Lampedusa Mayor Toto Matrello reported to the AFP news agency.
“What is most surprising is the deafening silence of the Italian government and of Europe, in the face of these deaths,” Martello lamented.
The 280 survivors, coming from Bangladesh, Egypt, Mali Y SudanAccording to the humanitarian program of the Italian evangelical churches Mediterranean Hope, they were sent to the health center because they were “in a state of severe hypothermia.”
They were later taken to the accommodation center on the small island, which is closer to Africa than Italy.
The center, which has 250 places, currently houses more than 600 people and it is feared that more migrants will arrive fleeing war and poverty.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) publishes on its website that So far this year, 50 people have died or been reported missing while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. to reach European coasts, a figure that in 2021 rose to 2,043, above the data for 2020 and 2019.
The number of migrants arriving in Italy increased notably, going from 34,000 in 2020 to 64,500 in 2021.
Despite sub-zero temperatures and rough seas, some 1,750 people have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the month, a very high number compared to the 379 who disembarked in the same month last year.
“The arrival of migrants has become a permanent phenomenon. There is no difference between summer and winter,” Martello stressed.
Last year, the majority of migrants arriving in Italy departed from Libya (31,556), some 20,218 people from Tunisia, and 12,916 from Turkey.
The migrants intercepted at sea and returned to Libya, which is not a safe port, were 32,425, almost 3 times more than last year (11,891 in 2020), the IOM reported.
Source From: Ambito
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