The number of victims increases of the shipwreck of migrants that took place last Sunday in Steccato di Cutro, in the Crotone area. At dawn today, rescuers found the body of a man on Steccato beach. This is the victim number 64 of the massacre (of these only 23 have been identified). The searches that went on throughout the night are also continuing today.
Meanwhile thehe coffins were all taken to the Crotone sports hall, where the funeral home will be opened (and in front of which many have brought flowers and messages). On some there is a plate with the name and surname; on others only initials. The white coffins of children are impressive. One is very small. Flowers have been placed above each one.
One Turk and two Pakistanis
Meanwhile, the minutes emerge the testimonies made by the survivors to the investigators who made it possible to identify the three alleged smugglers accused of having brought the boat full of migrants from Turkey to Italy, despite the prohibitive conditions of the sea. It concerns a Turkish citizen and two Pakistanis, suspected of having asked each migrant, for the journey of death, about eight thousand euros.
“Breakdown after a few hours”
This is how the story of a Syrian man picked up by the carabinieri begins: «I left Syria in 2015 to reach Turkey where I lived for eight years. Through Facebook I contacted one Abo Naser, a Palestinian I met through a friend who organized this trip». The Syrian continues: «The journey started, after a few hours the boat had a breakdown and the crew and the crew had a second boat arrive and we got back on it” (but there is still no certainty on this detail, ndr). The man also gives a description of one of the smugglers arrested and taken to prison yesterday. “The second boat arrived with four people on board and was led by a Turk and a Syrian. I recall that the Syrian was heavily built and was also a mechanic. Then there was also another Turk who had a tattoo on his right cheekbone who didn’t drive but gave orders to the whole boat. He seemed like a sort of boss to me because he gave orders to others. Then there were two Pakistanis, one who managed the transfer from Izmir to the first boat».
I crash
Another testimony focuses on the last excited moments before the tragedy. “About four hours before the boat hit one of the two Pakistanis went down in the hold and told us that we would arrive after three hours at destination. He showed up an hour before the crash telling us to pack our bags and get ready to get off as we were almost there. Suddenly the engine started to smoke, there was a lot of smoke and smell of burnt oil. The people in the hold it began to suffocate and climb up. I managed to grab my nephew and get on deck after which the boat broke up and the water started flowing in. When I went up without going back down there were about 120 people including women and children». At that point, the detectives ask him what the smugglers did. Here is the answer: “I saw that the Syrian and two Turks inflated a rubber boat and ran away. I didn’t see what the Turk did with the tattoo on his cheekbone because I thought I’d save my nephew.”
The time interval
In addition to the 64 victims, including about twenty childrenthere are still dozens of people missing. But what happened between 10.30pm and 4.10am on Sunday? Migrants aboard the «Summer Love», this is the name of the boat, could they be saved? This is what the Prosecutor of Crotone is trying to understand, investigating the shipwreck (at the moment there are three possible crimes: manslaughter, culpable shipwreck and aiding and abetting illegal immigration). There is a gap of about six hours, between 10.30 pm on Saturday 25 February and 4.10 am the following morning, Sunday 26 February, when a call to 112, sent from an international cell phone, reports a shipwreck a hundred meters off the coast of Steccato di Cutro (Crotone). Here is the exact chronology of the shipwreck and the failure to help, according to some confidential data from the rescue bodies consulted by beraking latest news. In the 4.10 call to 112, excited voices of requests for help from the sinking boat are heard. The Carabinieri of the Crotone Operations Unit and Radiomobile, led by Lieutenant Andrea Stallone, immediately reach the indicated area, throw themselves into the water and manage to save five migrants. But for so many others there was nothing left to do.
The alarm
It is 10.30 pm when a Frontex plane, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, signals the presence of a boat 40 miles from the Crotone coast and indicates the coordinates. He also lets it be known that there is a Turkish mobile phone on board. Therefore, it is a boat of migrants. Shortly after midnight, two vehicles of the Finance Police leave, the V5006 from Crotone and the patrol vessel Barabrese from Taranto. But the sea is too rough, force 5 at times force 6, and the patrol boats of the Fiamme Gialle return. Their boats are not intended for rescue, but for “interception”, so they are adequately equipped. Around two o’clock a new attempt, again in vain. While until then the Coast Guard patrol boats remain at the port.
Information requests from Europe
Requests for information on the victims and survivors of the shipwreck are arriving at the Crotone Police Headquarters from all over Europe. These are family members, relatives, friends of the victims who know or assume that there was a loved one on the boat and ask for news to find out their fate. Fearing the presence of a 15-year-old cousin and not knowing how to contact the authorities, an Afghan lady who lives in Germany contacted the Berlin editorial office of ANSA, sending a photo of the boy and a description of him. Report that has been turned over to the authorities.