This is what is happening.
Sicily
of 140 aboard overturned raft, only 29 saved, 12 bodies recovered
November 2, 2016
From La Repubblica Palermo online: 12 cadavers have already been pulled from the sea in the Strait of Sicily after a rubber raft went down 25 nautical miles north of the Libyan coast because of force 4 high winds and waves. As of this writing 29 people were saved. Rescuers came on five ships coordinated by the Rome Read More
Aboard the rescue ship: 3 babies born
October 6, 2016
Italian Coast Guard film:
http://video.repubblica.it/edizione/palermo/tre-piccoli-migranti-venuti-alla-luce-sulla-nave-dattilo-le-immagini-dei-soccorsi/254320/254531
http://video.repubblica.it/edizione/palermo/tre-piccoli-migranti-venuti-alla-luce-sulla-nave-dattilo-le-immagini-dei-soccorsi/254320/254531
10,000+ migrants saved in 2 days, 23 dead, three babies born on rescue ship
October 5, 2016
10,000 immigrants saved from the sea in the last two days, according to a story by Claudia Brunetto in La Repubblica today. 72 separate rescue operations in the Strait of Sicily. 28 bodies were also pulled from the sea, 22 of which had been aboard a vessel packed with abut a thousand people.
fuocoammare
October 4, 2016
To honor the third anniversary of the drowning of 368 African immigrant at the dock of Lampedusa, Italian TV last night broadcast the Oscar nominated film Fuocoammare, Fire at Sea, filmed on Lampedusa. It does not have much distribution in the US. It was a beautiful sad poem. Like nothing I had ever seen before.
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1100 migrants saved this weekend
September 11, 2016
Today, Sunday, alone saw 1100 migrants saved from the Strait of Sicily. The Libyan traffickers sent off eight rubber rafts all at once. Also saved were two tiny boats full of complete Libyan families. This is a new phenomenon, according to a report in the daily La Repubblica. The Libyan families are autonomous immigrants escaping Read More
Accused traffickers acquitted of murder in Palermo
September 10, 2016
From Reuters in Rome via The Guardian:
An Italian judge has acquitted two men accused of people-smuggling and murder, saying they had been forced at gunpoint by Libyan traffickers to drive a rubber boat packed with migrants last year.
The judge in the Sicilian city of Palermo on Wednesday ordered that Jammeh Sulieman and Read More
An Italian judge has acquitted two men accused of people-smuggling and murder, saying they had been forced at gunpoint by Libyan traffickers to drive a rubber boat packed with migrants last year.
The judge in the Sicilian city of Palermo on Wednesday ordered that Jammeh Sulieman and Read More
More than a thousand migrants saved at sea
September 6, 2016
More than a thousand migrants, including tiny babies, were rescued in the past few hours off the coast of Libya in several operations that involved the Italian Coast Guard and and Maltese ship. IN the video you can also see a rescuer who was overcome by the diesel fumes of one of the vessels, felt ill and fainted in the waters. Imagine having to smell the diesel fumes day and night without respite during the transit of the Mediterranean. Read More