The victims of the shipwreck on Sunday morning off the coast of Cutro rise to 67 .
And the questions about the massacre of migrants in Italian waters are growing. Was it predictable? Could it have been avoided? The spotlight falls on Frontex , the European Border and Coast Guard Agency . «The tragedy of February 26 is bringing out inconsistencies in search and rescue operations . Frontex had intercepted the vessel while it was in the open sea at 10pm on 25 February ». These are some excerpts from the question presented to the Commission by the Vice-President of the European Parliament, Pina Picierno . "However, the agency informed the Italian Guardia di Finanza (in charge of law enforcement operations) rather than the Italian Coast Guard " about any search and rescue operations. «The patrol boats of the Guardia di Finanza were therefore unable to intercept the ship due to the rough sea», continues Picierno. “The shipwreck occurred at 2am on Sunday, but the Italian Coast Guard only received the first emergency information from Frontex at 4.30am . It therefore needs to be clarified whether the Commission itself was aware of these events and decisions, whether Frontex communicated the information to the Italian authority concerned in due time and whether the Italian authorities duly fulfilled their duties', concludes the question.
The email from the European agency, sent on Saturday evening at 10.30 pm, communicated the sighting of the boat but did not indicate the number of people on board . He only underlined that there could be «possible other people below deck» and that the boat enjoyed «good buoyancy» . But, specifically, what else was reported? The message states that the Eagle1 plane – at 21.26 on Saturday – identified a boat with an inboard engine of an «unrecognizable» color sailing at the latitude coordinates '38°23'02'' N' and '017°34'07 '' She is of longitude at a speed of 6 knots. The absence of people at sea and life jackets is signalled . The latest indication given by Frontex is that a significant thermal response has been detected from the «open hatches forward».
And in response to the fingers pointed at the Coast Guard and the help that did not arrive, the commander of the Crotone port authority , Vittorio Aloi, intervened: «Why didn't we go out? That's not how the speech is. You should know the plans, the agreements that exist at ministerial level . Our rules of engagement are a very complex reconstruction not to be done for press articles. There would be a need to specify many things on how the device for plotting migrants works, from when they arrive in territorial waters to who then have to be escorted or welcomed: the operations are carried out by the Gdf until they become Sars . In this case the dynamics need to be verified».
THE ARDENT CHAMBER – In the meantime, the funeral chamber has been opened at Palamilone, the sports hall of Crotone, which houses the coffins of the victims of the shipwreck .
In an atmosphere of great emotion and condolences punctuated by interreligious prayer led by the imam of the Cutro mosque, Mustafa Achik, and by the bishop of Crotone, Angelo Raffaele Panzetta, there are already many people who have come from all over Calabria to make tribute to the dozens of coffins placed on the parquet of the structure. All 27 mayors of the Crotone area and local administrators were present.
(Unioneonline/vf)