Migrants, over 4,000 arrivals in 48 hours. Record of landings and controversy – Corriere.it

You risk exodus. Five reconnaissance aircraft over the Mediterranean — three from Frontex, one from the Irini mission, plus the Seabird of the NGO ship Sea Watch – dozens of boats headed for Italy reported yesterday morning. The most popular route, the Tunisian one. An example? Based on what was told by the migrants who landed in Lampedusa between yesterday and Friday, as many as 44 of the 49 small boats that landed had left from Sfax, in Tunisia. Only one had sailed from Zawia, Libya. The Tunisian Coast Guard also assures that in the last three days it has intercepted another 79 departures with 2,982 people on board.

But for almost 3,000 migrants who have been stopped, over 4,500 managed to land on our shores in 48 hours, very often with do-it-yourself trips, armed only with a compass and smartphone. Small metal boats, with outboard motors, which have great instability and the chief prosecutor of Agrigento, Salvatore Vella, has already defined “floating coffins”. The Sos Méditerranée ship that yesterday was trying to rescue 84 people off the coast of Libya was allegedly threatened by the Tripoli Coast Guard who also fired shots in the air to make it go away. Meanwhile, however, there have already been 60 deaths in just a few days on the Tunisian route: the latest disaster yesterday with the sinking of two boats – all on board sub-Saharan migrants – in the Maltese Sar area. Eight bodies were recovered by our Coast Guard and Fiamme Gialle patrol boats and by a Tunisian fishing boat.

But 41 more people died yesterday, according to Alarm Phone, off Dakhla, Morocco. A boat with 50 migrants could not withstand the impact of the heavy seas: only 9 survived. In short, a continuous massacre. And just a month after the Cutro tragedy of February 26, with 90 confirmed victims so far.

Impressive numbers. In Lampedusa alone, in 48 hours, there were 50 landings and 2,250 migrants arrived. And just as many have already landed or are about to do so between Sicily and Calabria after being rescued at sea by the Guardia di Finanza and the Coast Guard. Tonight the Geo Barents ship of Doctors Without Borders will arrive in Bari with 190 people, while the Life Support ship of Emergency – after three rescue interventions in less than ten hours, with 161 people saved – is now headed to Ortona, in Abruzzo, where it has been assigned the port because Sicily is bursting in the meantime.

But there are also those who will have to go back immediately. In Syracuse, the questore issued 52 refoulement orders for as many Egyptian migrants who arrived in Augusta on Thursday night: they were part of a group that also included 24 Syrian asylum seekers. The Egyptians will have to leave the national territory within a week.

“This year’s numbers are unacceptable – says the Deputy Prime Minister of the League Matteo Salvini – also because we are unable to assist all these people. Let’s see if Europe finally, after years of talk, will pass from words to deeds, because the Italian borders are European borders». Elly Schlein, the secretary of the Pd, has a different opinion: «The knots come home to roost. The Italian government remains isolated in sharing responsibility for hospitality, with Italy forced behind the walls that the nationalist allies of Giorgia Meloni want to build”. The premier – the oppositions attack – returned from Brussels on Friday empty-handed. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi retorts: “We need to know the mechanisms of those contexts well, you don’t come out of the European Council with a solution that is put in place the next day”. He continues: “Migrants are attracted to Italy also because there is a favorable public opinion, while in other countries they are intransigent”.