Bollywood film inspired by Yioham tragedy

The Yioham tragedy, which claimed the lives of 283 immigrants on Christmas Eve ten years ago, has inspired a Hindi movie, Kaafila, which will be released in the New Year.

Kaafila, likely to be the first film of its kind in Bollywood, deals with illegal immigration and human trafficking.

The victims of the Yioham tragedy, the worst accident in the Mediterranean since World War II, were mostly Pakistanis, Indians and Sri Lankans who drowned near Porto Palo, Sicily. They were to be transferred from the Yioham to a Maltese-registered ferry but there was a collision in the rough seas and the ferry carrying the immigrants sank.

Director Ammtoje Mann told ADNkronos International (AKI): "It's a real thing happening in India and the world. So many people are suffering from this. I believe in meaningful cinema and having real issues. The film is not only based on the Malta boat tragedy but all things related to this illegal activity."

The thriller relates how a group makes the journey to Europe illegally, becoming the victims of agents who force them into hiding in Eastern Europe and enduring hardship.

The film does not make direct reference to the Yioham incident but there is a segment shot on a boat carrying 200 people that ends tragically. The 30-minute scene was shot in a British film studio.

The film was extensively shot in Europe and in Ladakh, Manali and Punjab in India at a reported cost of $4 million. The cast includes Indian film star Sunny Deol and Pakistani actresses Monalisa and Sana Nawaz, who plays an Afghan girl from Kabul.

Mann learned of the incident from news reports - the tragedy hit the headlines in 2001 after reports by La Repubblica journalist Giovanni Maria Bellu.

Last July, Green MPs Arnold Cassola and Tana de Zulueta were the first signatories of a draft law presented to the Italian Parliament calling for the recovery of the Yioham wreck and the erection of an inter-faith memorial at Porto Palo.

Four Italian Nobel laureates - Dario Fo, Rita Levi Montalcini, Carlo Rubbia and Renato Dulbecco - called for the recovery and proper burial of the immigrants' remains.

Mann is no stranger to controversy: his 2003 film Hawayein dealt with the 1984 riots in India caused by the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the massacre of Sikhs in the ensuing bloody reprisals.

Kaafila will be released in India but Mann hopes it will also reach European theatres.