UNHCR data: “500 thousand refugees at the end of the year”. And in Leuca here are the first landings

When the Coast Guard stopped that sailing boat just outside Leuca, our men knew what they would find in the hull: men and women fleeing wars, as they have been intercepting in the Otranto canal for years. They did not expect, however, to meet the eyes of 15 men and women who, in perfect English, confessed to them: “We are Afghans, we ran away from the Taliban a month ago.