Lampedusa Wreck Toll Rises to 27, Blame Game Continues

Lampedusa: The death toll from a double migrant shipwreck off Lampedusa rose to 27 Wednesday night as a blame game between the government and the opposition continued. About 10 migrants are missing and presumed drowned after two boats carrying mainly Pakistani, Sudanese, and Somali migrants sank about 15 km south of the stepping stone island, which is closer to Africa than to Italy. A newborn baby girl and three teenagers are among the 27 victims so far recovered.

According to Ansa News Agency, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni greeted the shipwreck with “dismay,” accusing the traffickers of being “inhuman” and saying “the tragedy shows that rescue operations are not enough, they do not address the causes of this dramatic problem.” German rescue NGO Sea-Watch expressed “anger and frustration; if we had been warned, we could have rescued them.” The opposition criticized the government’s laws as intended to “impede rescue operations.” The center-right responded: “Yet another tragedy is the traffickers’ fault.” The
Meloni government has assigned landing ports to NGO rescue ships far from their operating zones, allegedly hampering their efforts to save lives.

Deputy Premier and League leader Matteo Salvini blamed “the ultra fans of indiscriminate welcoming” for the tragedy.