Italy: Human Traffickers ‘Stabbed 60 Migrants to Death’ in Latest Boat Tragedy
Italy: Human Traffickers 'Stabbed 60 Migrants to Death' in Latest Boat Tragedy Italian police have arrested five human traffickers under allegations of stabbing 60 migrants to death and throwing their bodies into the sea off the coast
Italy: Human Traffickers ‘Stabbed 60 Migrants to Death’ in Latest Boat Tragedy
Italian police have arrested five human traffickers under allegations of stabbing 60 migrants to death and throwing their bodies into the sea off the coast of Lampedusa.
Gianluca Mezzofiore | ibtimes.co.uk | July 22, 2014
Asylum-seekers rescued by the Danish petrol tanker Torm Lotte between Libya and Malta and taken to Messina told investigators that the sinking fishing boat was carrying between 700 and 750 people, according to Italian media.
Only 569 people were rescued by the Danish freighter, while the others died drowning or were allegedly stabbed or beaten to death by the traffickers in the fishing boat’s hold and then hurled into the sea.
Due to its southern location, Lampedusa is a favourite target of migrant smugglers who usually set sail from Libya’s loosely patrolled coast.
To avoid coastguard patrols, human traffickers often allow overcrowded, rundown boats to run adrift miles from Lampedusa’s shores.The practice has caused many vessels, usually loaded with migrants fleeing wars or hardship in Syria, Eritrea and elsewhere, to flounder.
Earlier this month, dozens of would-be migrants died in the refrigerated hold of a fishing boat in an episode so horrific that Italian authorities compared it to a Nazi mass grave. The African migrants, who were stowed in the hold by human smugglers, are believed to have suffocated to death, crammed on top of each other.
The men were packed in so tightly that rescuers initially counted 30 victims but had to revise the death toll up to 45, after the vessel was towed to a Sicilian port for a closer inspection.
“They were stacked up, one on the other, like in an Auschwitz mass grave,” said Antonino Ciavola, the chief of the police rapid response team in Ragusa, Sicily. More than 600 migrants were on board the 20m long vessel that police said should have carried half that number.
Authorities said that more than 60,000 migrants have reached Italy since the beginning of the year and the number of arrivals is expected to exceed the yearly record of 62,000, set in 2011 during the Arab Spring uprisings, over the next few days.
ahmed saleh July 22, 2014
When you handed your freedom , there is always price to pay . Issayas outsmart everyone
to produce a well behaved puppets . Eritreans life have been determined not by our chance
but buy our choice which is unfortunate facts . While some of us regret by the outcome and
in contrary others rejoice in it . Once people created their own status-quo not to interfere
on their nations affairs , it resulted on fragmented society vulnerable to anything .
semere July 23, 2014
Good comment Ahmed!
Let me also add: normally governments advocate and defend the rights of their nationals living in other countries. But Eritrea is an orphan. Besides it is the government itself which is killing its citizens even outside the country. It is well recorded that the main human traffickers are selfish HGDEF goons. Until we join hands and uproot the dictator, this tragedy will continue.
Berhe Tensea July 22, 2014
Most of the murdered must be our brothers and sisters, when is the agony going to stop. Aslong as the Anchuwa of Nakfa and the Lion of Tembein is in power the Eritrean youth is going to perish like insects and other animals.
Sadly Eritrean is the most despised and mekin of the meskin at this time.
To the human trafickers Eritrean means goods that can be sold or thrown away at will.
Wedihagher July 22, 2014
What a sad story …
More that 500 people were waiting their turn to be killed one at a time, instead of stopping a few criminals who are standing beside them ?
selamawit2 July 23, 2014
What a eclipse. When will this end.
My poor sisters and brothers. i hope you find the peace you never had in your life at the place were you are now. RIP.
Teclay July 23, 2014
Assena and all readers
Assena
You have been doing good job.Specially in exposing the Sinai ,Sudan and Libya etc tragedies.In this aspect you are better than other Eritrean websites.
You are doing good job while most of us are siting and waiting .On the other hand you are not democrats as you claim to be.If you were democrats you would let every one to say his mind you would not be selective.Eg you have deleted my comments repeatedly only because i want to see the Eritrean problem from the core instead of daily events.
I believe such tragic news will continue even after the despot.But you do not like such comments.I respect you decision and i will not comment on your website at least for one year by then i hope you will have considered it and i believe in 10 years ,my comments will have been accepted by most of my opponents.
ahmed saleh July 23, 2014
oAssenna welcomed anyone to engage in discussion and to express ideasWhen we abuse the limitation of free speech in name of democracy , we
find ourselves in frustrated situations from absence of order .
And Assenna foundation have obligation to preserve their site’s hard work
earned reputation to satisfy majority demands . Do not forget it represent
the voice of voiceless and the voice of DELEYTI FITHI , period .
Tsehaye July 24, 2014
selam Teclay,
I hear you. One of the main reasons that got us into these indescribable mayhem and tragedies is our intolerance to opposing and alternate ideas/views. Let us call it ghedli’s syndrome. The only thing that ghedli has excelled in its entire journey in the jungles and mountains is making Eritreans lose their independent thinking and rationality. Ghedli has successfully made Eritreans group-thinking zombies.
If assenna is showing some adverse reaction to your comments, don’t blame it. Blame the ruthless and all-alien-loving ghdeli and do your best effort to help it. Let us all adhere to its guidelines and focus our struggle against the tyrannical PFDJ mafia and its enablers: the notoriously useless Baito Hawasa. Please stay the course. It is not about time to leave the field to the extremists and their PFDJ buddy. It is time to do whatever it takes to save the depopulation and destruction of highland Eritrea.
selamawit2 July 24, 2014
Tsehaye, please allow me to interfere:
there have been a group of people with the agenda to “convice” us Eritreans, the only solution for our problems was to apologize to Ethiopia for the last 125 years and become a part of Ethiopia – of course they denied the hardship caused by former Ethiopian governments. Mind you, this “convincing” was tried by insulting us: they called the kids who are kidnepped and raped by in senai “bitchs” (not my word!), they called our ancestors whores and slaves and made a lot of discriminating statement on the people of Eritrea.
Amanuel Eyasu was open enough to let them write more than any forum in western countries would allow them.
Teclay, sorry to say, was at least one of the person who was cheering for them while he tried to fulfill his agend with a pseudo-semi-schlor style: He brought arguments e.g. from histories all over the word and when sombody showed him, he was factually wrong, he simply cut the communication.
Those people, who are hopefully watched by assenna now, didn’t want a livly, constructive interaction – they just wanted a moral break down of Eritreans. BTW, Eritrea doesn’t exist for them – also for Teclay and he says it openly.
So please, Tsehaye, don’t underrate the people here in this forum – were are not that banal as you may think.
ahmed saleh July 23, 2014
LETAY
Now to cry like a baby will not help us all . We were asleep to praise Issayas when after independence started to dismantle and destroy any
threat to his leadership from EPLF ex-fighters .
Remember WARSAY – YIKEALO kind tactic of Hashewye of divide and rule
among armed forces at the end to see them face same fate .
Those thousands poor ex-tegadelti in prison do not count to complain
only for your own care ? To speak the truth ,if we can’t defend them , we can’t defend others or our own interest . In fact disregarding those corrupted criminals , Eritrea couldn’t exist without their existence .
ahmed saleh July 23, 2014
Thanks ASSENNA
The commentator might be the same person who abused the forum for too
long disguising himself .
Teclay July 24, 2014
Ahmed
Do You want me to Break my silence?
I am not such idiot like you to come back with another name.I am a man of principle .I am going to learn in other website from philosophers. I have been in Assena only one year .So , now my comments are not welcomed by Assena and i promise to what i said in the above .And You idiot you can swim in Assena 10 comments in a day .
selamawit2 July 24, 2014
If somebody writes something racist or dicriminating, it’s was about the time to delete such comments…
But Teclay, there is something very illogical in you argument: You say assenna did not allow you to write comments but YOU ARE COMMENTING!!!
So, what’s the problem?