Francisco called the death of 130 … shameful …

Pope Francis called the death of 130 migrants “shameful” after a shipwreck in the Mediterranean, and said he was “very saddened by the tragedy”. Last Thursday, the ship Ocean Viking, belonging to the NGO SOS Mediterraneo, arrived in the area transformed into a “sea of ​​corpses” because of the alarm from Alarm Phone, a telephone service for immigrants. For several hours, various humanitarian organizations tried unsuccessfully to obtain aid from European states to come to the aid of migrants. that, like every day, they tried to cross the sea in subhuman conditions.

“I admit that I am very saddened by the tragedy which, once again, has occurred in recent days in the Mediterranean.. Brothers and sisters, let us wonder about this umpteenth tragedy. It’s a moment of shameFrancis said to the faithful after a prayer in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican. “They were people, human beings and for two days they have been begging in vain for help which has not arrived”, assured the pontiff.

The Ocean Viking and three merchant ships spent hours unsuccessfully searching for survivors until last Thursday when they detected dozens of bodies near the Libyan coast alongside an inflatable boat, which capsized as some 130 migrants were traveling there. The alarm telephone had alerted on Wednesday that the barges on which they were traveling were in great difficulty because of the tide. The boats had left Libya with waves of up to twenty feet.

In front of the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square and before observing a minute of silence, Pope Francis asked for a prayer “for these brothers and sisters and for so many people who continue to die during these dramatic journeys”, while asked for a prayer “for those who can help but prefer to look elsewhere”. Humanitarian NGOs accuse European Union countries not only of not wanting to help migrants in danger, but also of preventing their rescue activities.

“These are the human consequences of policies that do not respect international law and the most basic humanitarian imperatives.”, wrote the director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in his social networks, Eugenio Ambrosi, shortly after the unveiling of the spectacular shipwreck. At the same time, the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNCHR), Carlotta Sami, he asked himself: “When will that be enough? Poor people. How many hopes, how many fears. Destined to collide with so indifference”.

The envoy for the situation in the central and western Mediterranean of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Vicent Cochetel, went further: “States have drones, planes, sophisticated telecommunications equipment, ships, but people continue to die on the coast of North Africa. Predictable rescue at sea, disembarkation agreements and solidarity with subsequent solutions are needed more than ever. “

“If an airliner had crashed, armed forces from half of Europe would have come, but they were just emigrants, dung from the Mediterranean cemetery for those not worth running., and in fact we were left alone ”, indignantly sums up Alessandro porro, president of SOS Mediterráneo and member of the crew of the ship of the French NGO which spotted the bodies off the Libyan coast.

According to the IOM, at least 453 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea since early 2021, mostly on the central road which connects the coasts of Tunisia and Libya to those of Italy.