As well as Spain’s Canary Islands, the Italian island of
Lampedusa is an arrival point for thousands of irregular migrants
arriving from Africa by boat. Here, IOM’s Simona Moscarelli
recounts the horrific experiences of those lucky enough to survive
the journey.



Don’t take anything with you! We will provide you with water,
food and cigarettes. In particular don’t bring any documents.
Don’t let the Italians identify your nationality.”
These were the last instructions Lamia received just a few hours
before leaving Libya for Italy by boat.



Her journey had started two months earlier in Morocco when she was
introduced to a “special agent” organizing “easy
trips” to Italy. The agent was in contact with another man,
based in Libya, who normally follows up and takes care of the final
part of the trip. Lamia left the equivalent of 2,000 euros with her
family in Morocco to hand over to the “agents” only
upon her “safe and sound” arrival in Libya. She reached
Tripoli by air with her identity card and a regular ticket,
together with her best friend.



Once there, she got rid of her identity documents and was put up in
a house with other migrants from Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.
“Agents”, a more polite word for human smugglers,
normally separate migrants according to their nationality with
different houses for black Africans, Eritreans, Arabs, etc. in
order to avoid problems and fights. Some people spend months or
even years in these houses waiting for the right moment to go or
the money which will allow them to make the final journey to Italy.
The migrants are not allowed to leave the house and their
day-to-day needs depend on the smugglers who provide them with food
and drinks.



Going out, in fact, is dangerous, especially for black African
migrants. The Libyans know the Africans are trying to make the hop
to Italian shores and that if they are leaving the confines of
their safe accommodation, it is because they need to go and pick up
the money that will pay for the journey. The trip is essential to
the migrants but exposes them to possible violence and robbery.




Lamia was lucky. She and her best friend lived in a house for
migrants for a month. One night, the smuggler brought them to one
of the isolated beaches at Zuwara where migrants are usually
gathered before their departure for Italy. There, Lamia met several
other men and women.



“Don’t worry about the trip. The boat is big and the
pilots are well experienced. In one day you will reach the small
island of Lampedusa. That’s Italy,” she was told by the
smugglers.



Thanks to a small but quick Zodiac boat, Lamia reached a
bigger, 12-metre boat. But when she saw the Zodiac making
several additional trips to collect more migrants from the beach,
she became anxious. In the end, about 120 people – men, women
and unaccompanied children – were crammed into the boat.



By dawn, just a few hours after departure, all the food and water
had already gone. As the sun rose, the heat became unbearable. The
engine was boiling and to cool it down, the smugglers poured sea
water on it, scalding a woman who was too close.



By sunset, the smugglers realized they were still too far from the
Italian coast and that they would need additional help if they were
to make it. They called a Tunisian fishing boat which arrived with
water, milk and some fuel for the boat.



Lamia and the other migrants were relieved, but soon after the sea
became rough and fear once again spread among the group. The sight
of an Italian naval boat on patrol reassured them, but their
thoughts of reaching safety were premature.



A wrong manoeuvre by the pilots and a large wave capsized the boat.
Everyone, including the migrants, fell into the sea. Almost none of
them could swim.



“One cannot describe what happened during those moments. It
was dark, the only light was from the Italian vessel. Everyone was
shouting, struggling to reach for a part of the boat to hold on. In
an effort to breathe, some of the migrants pushed others
down,” said one of the survivors.



Rescue patrols arrived immediately but the time in the water seemed
endless for the migrants who afterwards reported they had waited
“one, two, three hours” to be rescued.



Out of the 120 people on board, the Italian Navy rescued 70
survivors and recovered 10 bodies, mostly women. The bodies were
transferred directly to Sicily. Lampedusa doesn’t have enough
space to bury them.



That was on 19 August 2006. Fatima was one of the three girls who
survived the capsizing. She feels guilty because she is overweight
and as a result, it took longer and more people to rescue her.



“They could have saved some other people instead of
me,” she mourns.



When Fatima and Lamia arrived on Lampedusa, they were in shock.
They were taken to what is called the first reception centre and
immediately given water, food and clothing. They washed off the
unbearable salt water that together with engine oil and urine, was
burning their skin.



Mohammad, a 17-year-old Egyptian boy, kept shouting the name of his
friend. He wouldn’t react to any of the questions asked by
the IOM cultural mediator, there mainly to provide legal
information to the migrants, but often doing much more. The centre
doctor spent the night trying to reassure and calm him. He
wasn’t the only one in distress. All the rescued migrants
were in a similar state. Many were wailing uncontrollably and
nothing any of us could say or do could relieve them of their pain.




As with all boat arrivals on Lampedusa, the IOM cultural mediator
and I were at the harbour when the migrants arrived. Then, as at
other times, we provided the migrants with immediate assistance
such as first aid and information on what happens to them next. We
also identified vulnerable people and referred them to doctors or
the police for further help. This can include identifying possible
victims of trafficking and violence as well as women who are in
need of medical and pychosocial care. Our presence was constant.
Even when the migrants couldn’t sleep and walked back and
forth calling the name of a brother or a friend who has died, we
were nearby. And we were there in the days after when relatives of
both the survivors and the missing arrived, asking for news of
them.



There is no justification for such a human loss. Every year some
15,000-20,000 irregular migrants land on the island of Lampedusa,
115 miles south of the Sicilian coast and 180 and 75 miles north of
Libya and Tunisia respectively. The migrants arriving on Lampedusa
represent a small percentage of the irregular migrants entering or
overstaying in Italy. But their story is by far the more dangerous
and dramatic. The exact numbers of those physically landing are
known, but not the numbers of those who drown at sea or who die
much earlier in the deserts of North Africa.



When landing, the migrants are held in the first reception centre
where Italian police take their fingerprints and try to identify
them. The centre is quite small. It can host up to 190 people.
Recently, a new area for women and children was opened. But it is
still not enough.



During the summer when landings increase, the centre is easily
overcrowded. During July this year, 83 landings brought 3,490
people. It’s why the police transfer migrants to other
reception centres in Italy such as Crotone, Foggia or Bari every
two or three days. From there, the migrants may either request
asylum and are then processed, or are repatriated or given an order
to leave the country on their own. Forced returns from Lampedusa to
Egypt, Morocco or Libya stopped in April, when IOM opened its
office at the centre.



IOM works out of a small container within the reception
centre’s facilities, together with UNHCR and the Italian Red
Cross. The cooperation between the three organizations is bringing
additional benefits. Important information is being gathered.
Eighty per cent of the interviewed migrants came to Italy in search
of work and to improve their lives, with a small percentage being
asylum seekers. Libya was the departure point for 90 per cent of
the migrants, and Tunisia for the remainder.



More light is also being shed on the smugglers. Libyan smugglers
appear better organized and to have more connections with smuggling
networks in other countries. Sometimes, they also focus on
smuggling one specific nationality. Travelling from Tunisia in
comparison appears more individual and haphazard.



It’s all useful information. Knowing that migrants have a
very poor knowledge of European immigration laws and virtually no
knowledge of the often abusive conditions of the journey they are
about to undertake allows IOM and others to devise more effective
responses on the dangers of irregular migration. The more
effective, the more lives that can be saved.