"First of all, I want to renew my personal condolences and those of the whole Government, for the victims of this latest tragic shipwreck and my closeness to their families and survivors". Thus the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, in his report to the Chamber on the events of Cutro, in front of the coast of Crotone.
The balance «is not yet definitive, but the updates received from the Prefecture of Crotone bring the number of victims to 72, of which 28 are minors, while the survivors are 80 . Of these, 54 are welcomed in the local reception center for asylum seekers, 12 in the Sai system in Crotone, 8 are hospitalized, 2 unaccompanied minors have been placed in dedicated structures and 3 subjects, presumably smugglers, have been arrested.
«For the necessary reconstruction of the facts, which must take place there, the Prosecutor of the Republic of Crotone is investigating the matter. We will therefore await the outcome of the judicial investigations with trust and respect», added the number one of the Viminale in his speech in the courtroom.
Piantedosi also responded to criticism for some of his statements in recent days: "I referred to the seriousness of the criminal conduct of the smugglers when, with emotion, indignation and anger and in my eyes the heartrending image of all those innocent victims, I appealed for the people's lives no longer end up in the hands of ignoble criminals, in no way wanting to blame the victims . I am deeply sorry that the meaning of my words has been interpreted differently".
"The sensitivity and principles of human solidarity that have inspired my personal life have been the beacon, in over thirty years at the service of the institutions and citizens, of my every action and decision", concluded the minister in his statement.
THE RECONSTRUCTION - Around 4 in the morning "a call for emergency telephone 112 arrives from an international number which was geolocated by the operator of the Operations Center of the Provincial Command of the Carabinieri of Crotone and communicated, with the geographical coordinates, to the Operations Room of the Port Authority of Crotone. This is the precise moment in which , for the first time, the need for relief for the Italian authorities materializes », underlines Piantedosi.
In the moments immediately preceding the shipwreck, the navigation «had continued until 3.50, when, about 200 meters from the coast, flashing lights coming from the beach were sighted from the boat and at that point the smugglers, fearing the presence of the forces of order along the coast, make a sharp turn in an attempt to change direction to get away from that stretch of sea. At that juncture, the boat, being very close to the coast and in the middle of high waves, most probably hits the shallow water (a shoal) and, due to the breaking of the lower part of the hull, begins to take on water", he Piantedosi reported again.
" Frontex's warning about the boat did not represent a dangerous situation " and "there had been no distress calls of any kind", the minister then specified.
«I find it incomprehensible to have connected the so-called "NGO decree" with the shipwreck of Cutro because, in the first place, neither in the Ionian sea nor along the so-called Turkish route have ships of non-governmental organizations ever operated and, secondly, because the rules introduced with the aforementioned provision start from the assumption that first of all, the rescue and assistance of migrants must always be ensured to protect their safety. I point out that the national regulatory framework, which is also subject to international constraints with specific regard to the matter of sea rescue, has absolutely not been modified by the current Government. Moreover, the technical-operational modalities of the rescues cannot in any way be subjected to conditioning of a political nature or to interventions outside the chain of command».
(Unioneonline/lf)