Sicily arrests three for people smuggling
July 19, 2015
A total of 335 migrants arrived in port in Augusta, Sicily, on Wednesday after having spent a week at sea. The charity Save the Children said they had left port near Alexandria, Egypt.
The 10-year-old girl's father said she had died during the sea crossing after traffickers took a small backpack from her that contained the life-saving medicine, and threw it into the sea.
The father, who is Syrian, had been brought to Sicily on Wednesday after being rescued, reported the incident on arrival. He told the Italian prosecutor that his daughter had fallen into a diabetic coma and died during the long journey. At the behest of other passengers aboard the crowded vessel, the man said he had buried his daughter at sea.
Police said they arrested three Egyptians who were identified for people trafficking rather than homicide, because the men who threw the medicine away had remained behind in Egypt.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi addressed the issue of immigration in a speech to members of his center-left Democratic Party, mentioning the fate of the girl who died.
'Let's still be human'
Renzi acknowledged that there was anti-immigrant sentiment in Italy, particularly from the country's right-wing Northern League party.
"We can discuss everything, but let's still be human when facing the pain of someone who has the right to dignity," Renzi said. "When a little girl dies, we can't allow ourselves to renounce being human beings for the sake of a percentage point."
Traffickers have taken advantage of a power vacuum in Libya - as well as unrest in Egypt - to fill unseaworthy boats with desperate migrants who pay thousands of euros to make the perilous journey.
The EU has been looking for UN support to take action against the smugglers.
According to UN figures, a record of some 219,000 people crossed the Mediterranean in 2014, with Eritrea, Somalia and Syria among the countries from which most came. More than 100,000 have already made the perilous journey this year, while about 2,000 have died or are missing.
rc/gsw (AP, dpa, Reuters)