The 28 survivors of Saturday’s migrant boat tragedy sat on the deck of the Italian rescue ship as they watched 24 corpses being taken off the vessel in body bags.
A uniformed crew member of the Italian coastguard vessel Bruno Gregoretti saluted each of the victims – all men, including one adolescent – as they were sombrely lifted off the boat one by one and placed in hearses.
Captain Gianluigi Bove said that even though language barriers did not allow his crew to communicate with the survivors – all Sub-Saharan men – they still managed to interpret “various emotions”.
“Initially, they were surprised. Then, there was joy, on realising they were saved. Subsequently, at a certain point, sadness was evident on their faces as they realised that people they knew, perhaps relatives, did not make it. At the moment, what we see is sadness,” the 35-year-old Italian officer said as he stood on the quay at Boiler Wharf, in Senglea yesterday morning.
It’s difficult because you always embark on such a mission hoping to save people
The boat the migrants were on capsized off the Libyan coast, about 130 miles south of Lampedusa. The actual death toll is not known but a Bangladeshi survivor is reported to have said there were 950 people on board – including women and children – many of whom were locked in the cabin when the smugglers’ vessel sank.
Capt. Bove said the boat was believed to have sunk on Saturday at 7pm and his ship arrived on the scene at about 2am on Sunday. There they found other vessels helping in the rescue operation. By then, there was no trace of the migrants’ boat and his crew retrieved two survivors.
Eventually, all the survivors, except for one, who was airlifted to Catania due to health reasons, were given medical attention on his ship and the crew gave them dry clothes and food.
“My men are sad. We are aware that we reached the objective of saving people but we can’t be happy because we know there were many victims and there is the great probability that there were others we did not manage to recover... It’s difficult as you always embark on such a mission hoping to save people,” said the captain.
He said it was heartbreaking for him and his crew to witness survivors watch as the black body bags, lined up on the deck, were placed into white bags and taken off the ship in Malta, ahead of their nine-hour trip to Catania.
The strong personal element of the tragedy was also highlighted by the fact that a diary, believed to belong to one of the migrants, was recovered in the sea by an Armed Forces of Malta patrol boat on Sunday.
Colonel Claudio Spiteri said AFM personnel helped in the ongoing rescue mission and recovered the diary as well as a personal identification document and a life jacket, which they passed on to the Italian authorities to help in the investigation.
Magisterial inquires are being held in both Italy and Malta. The survivors were taken to Italy on the request of the Italian authorities who wanted to speak to them as part of their investigations.
On arrival in Malta, the survivors were examined and found to be in good health, according to Charmaine Gauci, from the Health Department.
The corpses were taken to Mater Dei Hospital where autopsies will be held and DNA samples taken for identification purposes, Police Inspector Kenneth Haber said.
The authorities will speak to the survivors in a bid to establish the faith of the victims so they can be given a burial in Malta.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Anġlu Farrugia, home affairs shadow minister Beppe Fenech Adami, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola and civil rights spokeswoman Monique Agius issued separate statements calling on EU members states to join forces to address this humanitarian crisis.
They also called for more assets to be deployed in the Mediterranean and for more efforts to combat human trafficking.