Sicily, migrants thrown into sea, one body has so far been found

The daily news – Those who flung the men into the waters despite their cries of not being able to swim, have been arrested by the Finance Police. The immigrants themselves claim that some of the men travelling with them drowned. Thrown into the sea and abandoned. The immigrants, sixteen young Tunisians, reached dry land on the night between Sunday and Monday- after the Finance Police had followed a fishing boat in the waters of Capo Granitola (Trapani) and arrested three of the men in charge.
They reported that these three men were throwing the migrants overboard, leaving them 20 or 30 metres from the shore, even though many were screaming that they did not know how to swim. The immigrants themselves confirmed that some of their companions drowned. As a result search parties are now underway. One body has so far been found.

The
men who were arrested are all Tunisian. Their fishing boat, without any fishing
equipment aboard, was travelling without lights and was followed by a patrol
boat of the Finance Police for around 20 minutes. The crew was aboard the ship:
CB, 35 years old from Tolba; SK, 21 years old
and the captain BR, 47 years old from Sfax. The Palermo Fiamme
Gialle (sports division of the Finance Police) was alerted along with the
Carabinieri and the Police shortly after the first of the migrants had reached
the shore at Tre Fontane, in the borough of Campobello di Mazara. The migrants
identified the boat and the three organisers, and then explained to the police
the terrible details of the crossing they had just experienced. They also spoke
of two of their companions who were missing. Some of them said they were
originally a group of around forty migrants, two of whom had got into
difficulty and were unable to make it to the shore. The reports of the migrants
have led to the opening of an inquiry by the Finance Police, the Police and the
Carabinieri who were granted the permission to identify the organisers of the
crossing, who have now been taken to prison in Trapani. Such migrant reports of deaths at
sea are disturbing.

This
morning at 5am, another boat arrived in the same area: so far forty migrants
have arrived on the shores in wet clothes. Such descriptions have led to
believe that also this group (who are also all from the Maghreb
region) were forced into the water to make their own way to the shore. The
search for yesterday’s missing migrants is still underway. In addition to
patrol boats and scuba divers, there are also three helicopters in action: two
of the Port Authorities and one from the Finance Police.