Click on the photo to be directed to an English-language podcast, an interview with the rescue ship captain Italian Interior Minister Salvini has called a pirate and Palermo Mayor Leoluca Orlando calls a hero, provided by the The Guardian newspaper.
Sicily
Borders did this
May 26, 2017
33 casualties on board, including 7 children, 14 women and 12 men, as boat carrying approximately 750 people partially capsizes in the Mediterranean.
24th May 2017 saw one of MOAS’ most tragic rescues to date. Overcrowding and sea swell tipped hundreds into the water during a rescue yesterday. 32 bodies were recovered to MOAS vessel Phoenix alongside 604 survivors, one of whom Read More
24th May 2017 saw one of MOAS’ most tragic rescues to date. Overcrowding and sea swell tipped hundreds into the water during a rescue yesterday. 32 bodies were recovered to MOAS vessel Phoenix alongside 604 survivors, one of whom Read More
New arrivals
June 30, 2015
An Irish military ship , Le Eithne, picked up 647 migrants in trouble at sea and brought them to Palermo. Among them were 95 women, two of whom were pregnant. A group of 180 migrans were transferred by ferry from Lampedusa to Porto Empedocle where they will arrive this evening.
Wealthy family saves immigrants' lives at sea, regularly
May 17, 2015
From La Repubblica 16 May 2015 online edition:
The 120-foot ship Phoenix, working for the non-governmental organization MOAS, pulled into the port of Messina, Sicily with 405 migrants aboard.MOAS stands for Migrant Offshore Aid Station. The United States ship belongs to a wealthy couple, Regina and Christopher Catrambone, involved in a philanthropic and humanitarian mission to Read More
The 120-foot ship Phoenix, working for the non-governmental organization MOAS, pulled into the port of Messina, Sicily with 405 migrants aboard.MOAS stands for Migrant Offshore Aid Station. The United States ship belongs to a wealthy couple, Regina and Christopher Catrambone, involved in a philanthropic and humanitarian mission to Read More
Emigant Ships in Palermo Harbor
January 22, 2015
My grandmother or my grandfather might have boarded one of these ships. Emigration is big business. It was legal to go to the United States, so my grandparents could travel ( separately; they weren't married when they left Sicily) in safe, steel ships instead of on rubber rafts or in unseaworthy fishing boats like the Read More