Families of the 94 people killed in a shipwreck off Italy’s southern coast say they continue to seek “truth and justice” one year after the tragedy.
Cutolo, a small seaside town in Calabria, is holding a series of events to commemorate the dead, with demonstrations on Sunday and a torchlight procession along the coast of Steccato di at 4am on Monday, where the shipwreck sank. will be held. Cutolo, where many bodies were washed ashore.
The overcrowded wooden ship collapsed in stormy seas on February 26, 2023, just 3 meters from the coast. The ship had left Turkey four days earlier carrying about 180 people seeking refuge from countries including Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Pakistan and Iraq. Europe.
Eighty people survived, including a group of 50 people, including relatives of the dead, who traveled to Cutolo this weekend for a memorial service.
Crotone prosecutors are continuing to investigate allegations that Italy’s rescue efforts were delayed following a tip-off from authorities. The EU border agency Frontex alerted the Italian coast guard to the presence of a ship in distress about 45 miles off the coast, but a patrol boat sent to intercept it had to return to port due to bad weather. It is said that
Alidad Siri, an Afghan journalist living in the northern Italian city of Bolzano, spoke on behalf of the families of the victims at a discussion he organized, saying, “It’s not easy to go back. The scars are opening again.” . Noi Non Demeniki Amo (We Don’t Forget) is a collection of social organizations. “We seek truth and justice for a massacre that was avoidable.”
Siri’s 17-year-old cousin, Atiqullah Khalili, was also on the boat, but his body has not been found. “He had a dream of living freely. Even after a year, he still does not have the courage to tell his aunt that his body has not been found,” Siri said. “With European law on family reunification, there would be no more massacres like Cutolo. We called for reunification. [policy]But all we can get is [Italian] Government is a word. ”
It was the worst migrant shipwreck near Italy’s coast since October 2013, when a boat sank off the coast of Lampedusa, killing 368 people.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who met with some of the survivors after last year’s shipwreck, called for harsher penalties and priority quotas for the country’s workers who help fight smugglers. He also promised to crack down on smugglers. Earlier this month, a court in Crotone sentenced Gun Ufuk, a 29-year-old Turkish national, to 20 years in prison for his role in the shipwreck. He was one of four smugglers on the ship. One person has died and two others are on trial.
Part of the wreckage of the 20-meter-long ship, known as the Summer Love, remains on the coast of Steccato di Cutro.
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Fisherman Vincenzo Luciano was the first to arrive at the scene around 5:30 a.m. after receiving a call from a fellow fisherman. He said he saw the boat being destroyed by the waves. Luciano, who pulled several bodies from the sea, told the Guardian at the time: I tried to use my phone’s light to find other people in the ocean. Nothing like this has ever happened along this coast. I hope this will soon be forgotten as a memory. ”
Luciano said he hasn’t been out to sea since then, but he still worries he didn’t arrive sooner. “What I will never forget is the child who died in my arms,” he said during the game. Noi Non Demeniki Amo discussion.
A soccer match and concert were also held over the weekend, and a photo exhibition on the tragedy was held at a museum in Crotone.
Italy is one of the main landing points for people trying to enter Europe, and the “Central Mediterranean Route” is considered one of the most dangerous routes in the world.
