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Recovery of one of three victims in Crotone port – Reuters
At the pier of the port of Crotone, three fragile children with big dark eyes, get on the Red Cross bus with their mother that will take them to the reception center of Sant’Anna, in Isola Capo Rizzuto. One of them nods shyly from a distance to the reporter. Future. The three children have just disembarked, along with sixty other migrants, now lining up for the first checks carried out by prefectural personnel and the police. The sailboat they were traveling in, crammed like sardines, was intercepted off the coast of Capo Cimiti and taken to Crotone. From its hull, which sailed off the Turkish coast, 33 men, 15 women and 18 minors disembarked, including several children and even a baby. They come from Syria and Afghanistan, but also from Iran and Pakistan. While Suem 118 doctors review their health, before quarantining them waiting for the swab for Covid-19, the Red Cross staff refresh and make everyone drink, starting with the children. And the fourth landing in a fortnight in Crotone, including the tragic one on Sunday, when an explosion broke a boat with 21 other migrants off the coast of Praialonga, causing three victims, one missing and several injuries, including 2 financiers engaged in rescue. And other landings were recorded further south, always on the Ionian coast, between Rocella and Caulonia.
The ship blew up
According to an initial reconstruction from Crotone prefecture, 21 migrants were aboard the ship that exploded on Sunday. Another 13 had landed in the night at Sellia Marina. The hull was then intercepted by a GDF patrol boat that had started escorting it towards the port of Crotone. At noon, during the journey, for reasons yet to be verified (it could have been accidental causes, the engine was old and worn according to the intervention, or malicious) there were two explosions in sequence, the first from the batteries and the second from the engine. and fuel, which caused three deaths (a man, a woman and a child, of African origin) and 5 injured among the migrants (two with serious burns were transferred by rescue helicopter to the Catanzaro hospital), plus another two injured among the migrants. soldiers from the Guardia di Finanza (one perhaps with a broken leg, which would later be kept afloat by some migrants) engaged in the rescue operation.
The heroism of the two injured financiers
In a clip of a video filmed by the Gdf and the Coast Guard, the emotional moments of the rescue were filmed. “There was rough seas, strong sirocco wind and the ship seemed unmanageable, so two financiers came on board to take it to the nearest port. But the engine caught fire and exploded – says Colonel Emilio Fiora, provincial commander of the Yellow Flames -. Everyone on board was thrown into the water, even the two financiers, “the colonel continues.” Until a moment before, our two boys did everything they could to avoid worse problems, helping people escape. their commitment could have been other victims. In the men you see every day, heroes can hide, ”concludes Fiora, who went to the hospital to look for his injured colleagues.
The investigations
The Crotone mobile brigade police, coordinated by the magistrates, are investigating the causes of the explosion, which occurred on the high seas but was also heard by bathers on the beach. Regarding the incident, the prosecutor opened a file against unknown persons for complicity and incitement to illegal immigration and for death as a result of another crime. “In the next few days I will name the autopsy of the three dead migrants, I will ask for a fast track,” said Deputy Prosecutor Pasquale Festa. The research is obviously still in an embryonic stage, as soon as we have new elements we will communicate them ”. .
The Archdiocese: we ask God for forgiveness for this tragedy
“The tragedy that took place yesterday off the coast of Praialonga in the municipality of Isola Capo Rizzuto deeply shakes our consciences as men and believers and pushes us to ask God for forgiveness for this latest tragedy of emigration.” To write it, in a note posted on the site, it is the Archdiocese of Crotone-Santa Severina. “The entire diocesan community mourns the death of these three brothers, our migrants, whose names we do not know, we sense the tragic history of suffering, and they hope that the disappeared (or the disappeared) will be found safe.” The diocese is “close to the men of the Guardia di Finanza who were injured in the rescue operations” and feels “obliged to thank and praise all the men and women of the State, the voluntary associations and the medical and paramedical personnel for the dedication with which they are working to rescue survivors and search for the missing ”.
For the Diocese of Calabria, “caring for others, regardless of race, language, sex, religion, is the highest value of our Republic of which as Catholics we feel proudly inspiring and an integral part”. “Before these three brothers of ours who died in the Mediterranean – reads the note – we call on the Italian government, the European Commission and the international community not to leave a stone unturned in favor of the reception of migrants and the resolution of conflicts internal to their countries that force them to flee ”.
The note highlights “the air of hatred and indifference that is breathed in social networks” and “it worries us and we regret that even among those who profess to be Christians and Catholics they indulge in judgments and considerations bordering on racism.”
Rather, “we believe that hatred and indifference towards migrants is contrary to authentic Christian piety.” As a diocesan church “we present to God all the innocent victims of world inequalities – he continues – and we encourage, with renewed enthusiasm, to favor paths of integration, brotherhood and protection of the most fragile and poor in our territory, because no one among us has to suffer and feel excluded and discarded “.
Caritas: safe and legal entry routes needed
The Diocesan Caritas of Crotone expresses its condolences for the victims of the tragic accident that took place on the Ionian coast in the Crotone area. And he expresses great apprehension for the missing and the wounded: “Once again it is energetically reiterated that safe and legal entry routes are necessary,” the director of the diocesan Caritas of Crotone, Fr. Rino Le Pera, tells Avvenire. It is increasingly necessary to “prepare rescue activities in Mediterranean emergencies” because “the absence of international coordination on migratory phenomena causes tragedies like this one or like those heard from the shores of North Africa.
As Pope Francis said last Sunday, God will also ask us to account for the dead during journeys of hope. “While Caritas participates in support activities, welcoming and supporting migrant brothers, concludes Fr Le Pera,” we make our resources available to intervene at this time of extreme difficulty. “
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