ITALY: Final boatload bringing some of 3,500 migrants rescued this weekend arrives in Sicily

Record ID: 348750

  • Title: ITALY: Final boatload bringing some of 3,500 migrants rescued this weekend arrives in Sicily
  • Date: 1st June 2014
  • Summary: AUGUSTA, ITALY (JUNE 1, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NAVAL TUG CARRYING 1325 MIGRANTS APPROACHING PORT OF AUGUSTA IN SICILY EMERGENCY PERSONNEL ON QUAYSIDE SHIP DOCKED IN PORT MIGRANTS SEATED ON SHIP MIGRANT GIRL GAZING OUT OF SHIP MIGRANT MEN ON SHIP SMILING MAN GIVING A 'THUMBS UP' SIGN AND SMILING SHIP IN PORT WITH MIGRANTS SEATED ON DECK EMERGENCY WORKERS TALKING TO MIG
  • Embargoed: 16th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: International Relations,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA70FQ55153MFEIYP0XAEJ0JEVG
  • Story Text: The Italian Navy confirmed on Sunday (June 1) that 3517 migrants were rescued this weekend in the Straits of Sicily and brought safely to shore at different ports in Sicily and the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa.
    The largest number arrived in Augusta on the eastern coast of Sicily on the Tug ASSO 25 which carried 1,325 migrants and was escorted by three patrol boats.
    The majority of migrants were reported to be from North Africa and Syria and many looked very relieved to be arriving safely in Italy. There were a huge number of women, children and babies on board.
    Humanitarian agency personnel and emergency workers were on hand, with translators to help the migrants disembark and enter temporary reception centres.
    In Augusta town centre, most residents of the town expressed solidarity with the migrants, but felt overwhelmed by the numbers arriving.

    "Because now the influx of migrants is really excessive and in my opinion we can't keep them," local resident Silvana said.

    "Not because we are bad but because we can't give them proper help. Augusta doesn't have the resources for this enormous influx," she added.
    Others wanted to see more help coming from all over Europe.

    "I hope that Europe will intervene in a decisive manner to help us resolve the problems that obviously this huge influx of migrants is bringing us," Giovanni, another local, said.
    Another resident said he felt very proud of the Mare Nostrum (Our Seas) Operation and explained that it had saved tens of thousands of lives, but felt more needed to be done in the countries the exodus was coming from.

    "It is necessary the Mare Nostrum (Our Seas) Operation is expanded so that it transforms from humanitarian indifference to cooperation, to humanitarian interference. We need to go to those countries and create conditions for people to continue to live there in peace," Giorgio said.
    Around the town of Augusta, migrants who arrived previously hoped to be transported from Sicily to other parts of Italy and Europe.
    One man, Moussa, was originally from Gambia - he spent some time in a Libyan prison and landed in Augusta last week after his boat was rescued by the Italian Navy.

    "I just tried my best to get inside the boat in the night time and you know what the cost. And they bring us out to see and we pass the Libyan Sea, Tunis and we get inside the Italian Sea and then they come and rescue us - the soldiers - the military of Italy," he said.
    Moussa said that he hoped to join some friends in northern Italy but that he was very happy to at least have reached Sicily.

    "Yes, I feel free now, I feel happy, Yes, I feel free," he said.
    Italian police took some crew members from the trafficking boats away for questioning.
    Some 43,000 people have crossed from North Africa to Italy so far this year, the same amount as in the whole of 2013, Italian coastguards said.
    That leaves the annual total set to surpass the 60,000 who made the trip in 2011 when the Arab Spring revolutions loosened border controls, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.
    The near daily arrivals of migrant boats, mostly leaving from ports in Libya, was an issue in Italy in the European parliamentary elections last week.
    The anti-immigrant Northern League, which had lost much of its support over the last two years due to corruption scandals and leadership changes, recovered to win more than 6 percent of the vote.
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