7 migrants die trying to reach Italy in cold weather

INA-  sources

 
Seven migrants died while trying to cross the Mediterranean in bad weather, Toto Martello, the mayor of the Italian island of Lampedusa, told AFP on Tuesday.
 
According to media reports from Bangladesh, at least 280 migrants set off from Libya on a perilous sea journey to reach Europe.
 
 
 
“Three people died during the voyage, and four others died after suffering from severe hypothermia, after the Coast Guard intercepted their boat and took them to the island,” Martello said.
 
The humanitarian organization Mediterranean Hope said on Twitter that the 280 migrants were from Bangladesh, Egypt, Mali and Sudan, and “nearly all of them were suffering from severe hypothermia”.
 
 
 
“What is shocking is the complete silence of the Italian government and Europe, even in the face of the deaths,” Martello added.
 
 
 
Winter served as a deterrent, but despite the cold weather and rough seas, more than 1,750 migrants have arrived in Italy so far this month, compared to 379 in the same period last year.
 
“This tragedy shows us that even during winter there is an urgent need to increase the number of rescue ships at sea that can quickly rescue migrants and bring them to safety,” said Flavio Di Giacomo of the International Organization for Migration.
 
After he subjected the surviving migrants to tests for the Corona virus, they were divided between the health center and the overcrowded migrant reception center on the small island of Lampedusa, which is closer to Africa than to Italy.
 
 
 
The reception center, which can accommodate 250 migrants, is currently accommodating more than 600 people.
 
While some 34,000 migrants arrived in Italy in 2020, that number nearly doubled to 64,500 in 2021.
 
“It has become an ongoing phenomenon,” Martello said. There is no longer a difference between summer and winter.” He expected the number of immigrants to double this year.
 
Sant’Egidio, a Catholic charity that helps resettle refugees, has called on the European Union to “get out of its slumber” and save lives, including by opening new routes for legal immigration.
 
“It is unacceptable to die of cold a few meters from Europe,” she said in a statement.