---
3,000 people have died so far this year on the sea voyage from north Africa to Europe, in overloaded boats run by ruthless traffickers. We report from Sicily on the people at the centre of this mass migration.
I
It’s 8am on September 23rd, and it’s already hot on the long pier of Porto Empedocle, a coastal town in southern Sicily. Waiting at the far end of the pier, lined up in convoy, are six coaches. One has a large placard on its dashboard that says “Turismo”, but these buses are not waiting for tourists. They are waiting for 290 migrants from Syria, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Mali who were rescued at sea the previous day from two boats 30km off the coast of Libya. They include six pregnant women and at least 40 children.
The first sight of the ship that slides slowly into view is both eerie and moving. Standing and sitting on its flat red surface – designed for inanimate cargo – are hundreds of men, women and children. Only hours before, they were risking their lives at sea in overloaded, unseaworthy boats that few people would ever willingly voyage in. As this Dutch cargo ship, the Groningen-registered Dinteldijk, gets closer, what is most striking is the silence. Nobody shouts. Nobody calls out. From the 290 migrants, who have been rescued from possible death and brought to the frontiers of another life, all that can be heard is the distinctive wail of a baby crying.
For almost a year five Italian naval ships have been searching around the clock for migrant boats, with the help of their coastguards. This operation, which is costing ¤9 million a month, is known as Mare Nostrum, or Our Sea. A white coastguard boat docks first. It has been accompanying the Dinteldijk. Under maritime law, ships at sea that spot boats in need of rescue are obliged to go to their aid. The previous day, Italian coastguards had instructed the crew of seven on the Dinteldijk to rescue two boatloads of migrants they had come across by chance. The Dinteldijk’s passengers display a range of expressions: relief, trepidation, stoicism. All look exhausted. There is no one type of migrant.
An academic-looking man with glasses who set out to risk his life at sea 48 hours previously decided to do so attired in shirt, tie and jacket. Another man carries a black laptop case. ...
Posts
