- Title: ITALY: German woman escapes legal battle on migrant boat
- Date: 8th March 2011
- Summary: ROTHKAMM AND EMIRA IN FRONT OF JOURNALISTS
- Embargoed: 23rd March 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Italy, Italy
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Legal System
- Reuters ID: LVA1D3M5IO0IU3NQOMR7M94CPNKX
- Story Text: German Tina Rothkamm and her eight-year-old daughter Emira cut a rare sight among the hundreds of Tunisian migrants arriving on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on Monday (March 7).
Rothkamm decided to make the perilous journey with her young daughter to escape a bitter legal battle with her Tunisian husband, she told reporters while recovering from the trip at a hotel.
She said she had all the correct documents for herself and her daughter but had been barred from leaving the country by her doctor husband, whom she described as "dangerous".
Initially rejecting the idea, the migrant boats had become her only option to travel to Europe together with her daughter, Rothkamm said.
The mother and daughter spent some 20 hours on a crammed vessel carrying over a hundred migrants to reach Lampedusa, which lies approximately 120 kilometres from the Tunisian coastline.
To Rothkamm's relief, her concerns about bad weather and problems with Tunisian and Italian border guards did not materialise.
"Too be honest I was not all that scared because I have lived in Tunisia for a long time. The people on the boat were (like) brothers and sisters - actually there were only three sisters - three women - they sat in our cabin. It was a community and we were worried that maybe -what with the weather - the weather was wonderful - the sun shone, it was a calm day and it was really cold at night," Rothkamm said.
More than 7,000 migrants from Tunisia have arrived in Italy since the overthrow of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in mid-January and Rothkamm said details about the boat journeys were well-known among the Tunisians.
Rothkamm said she had paid the same amount for the trip as her fellow travellers and been given an equally small amount of space on the crowded boat.
"There was a man coming on the ship and he really took a baseball stick (bat) and he, I don't know if they really beat them up because I was inside the cabin of the captain but we were very scared that he would really beat them up and they were loud and they tried to put them in their places, they are like sardines and they don't like, the people don't like this and even me, I don't like (it) and even the captain doesn't like (it). But in the end this man with this stick managed to put...Yes, he doesn't let any little, you cannot put a cigarette between, you know," she said.
Rothkamm, who also told journalists she had another 18-month-old child in Germany, said she was looking forward to returning home with her daughter.
"It's over. We are very, very lucky," she said, squeezing her daughter's hand.
Unlike the over 1,000 new Tunisian arrivals being held at a Lampedusa holding centre, Rothkamm and her daughter are waiting to hear their fate at one of the island's many hotels.
A steady flow of boats carrying Tunisian migrants continued arriving on Lampedusa on Monday following a new influx of arrivals.
More than 1,000 illegal immigrants escaping political turmoil in North Africa arrived on the southern Italian island in the Mediterranean during the night.
Taking advantage of good weather, the immigrants arrived in more than a dozen boats overnight and in the morning.
Some of the boats have made it to the shores of the tiny island on their own, others were intercepted by the coastguard and their passengers taken off.
From Lampedusa, immigrants are sent by plane and ferry to holding centres on the mainland but the backlog was beginning to grow. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains identifiable children: users must ensure that they comply with local laws and regulations governing the publishing of this material.