speee
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on on October 3rd 2013 a boat from Libya
crammed with more than 500 mostly
Eritrean migrants capsized in the dead
of night of lampedusa a tiny Italian
island more than 360 people
drowned just how did this remote Italian
island find itself at the heart of such
human tragedy in 2013 we arrived for the
first time at the pristine
Island
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Lampa
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Magalia lampedusa builds itself as an
exotic tourist destination with
award-winning beaches but due to its
close proximity to North Africa the tiny
island has become a tantalizing Gateway
into Europe for those fleeing poverty
war and repression in Africa and the
Middle East
this Monument on the approach to
lampedusa's Port is called the door to
Europe and that's how migrants see the
island as a gateway to a better life
they pay thousands of dollars to
traffickers and risk their lives to come
here and that's something the locals
seem to
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get
what happened on that October night in
2013 overwhelmed the small island
Community I headed down to the port to
meet the Coast Guard who heads up
migrant boat
operations he was on duty that tragic
night
OB
Simone is a local diving instructor he
volunteered on the rescue mission that
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night
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the scale of the tragedy shocked the
world and gripped headlines but in the
last decade 6,000 people have drowned in
similar
circumstances a massive boat graveyard
stands on the shore as a silent
reminder these huge wrecks now they're
useless bits of broken wood just kind of
lying about but once they were kind of
vessels of hope I suppose these were
once overcrowded with people who who
know some of them might have made it
here others probably didn't it really
hammers home that this is just it's not
an isolated incident this has been going
on for
years we headed to a memorial service
laid on by the Italian authorities for
the victims and their families away away
away the mourners were mostly erat Tran
diaspora that had already made it to
European countries for years they've
been sending money home to their loved
ones to help fund the journey hoping to
one day be reunited in
Europe Ahmed was here from Holland to
mourn his brother yeah I I know the the
number of the coffins but uh I don't
know where is and I want to put this uh
on the
coffin but alongside sorrow there's
anger and
frustration
due to the scale of the tragedy the
Italian Prime Minister had announced
that the dead would be granted honorary
citizenship but the symbolic gesture did
not extend to the 157 survivors whom it
could actually benefit the big problem
is that the 157 person who are alive at
this moment after that accident they're
not here why are not they
here
it's calling with officials it doesn't
feel like your typical ferial
ceremony the official ceremony felt like
little more than media lip
service I joined the aat TR as they
headed down to the water's edge to pay
their respects to the dead in a more
personal
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way
for a brief moment this beautiful
stretch of water had become a moving
Monument for those who died seeking a
better life and yet the absence of the
157 survivors was on everybody's
mind we headed to lampedusa's migrant
Camp to try to meet some of
them hanbal is one of the 157 survivors
he wanted to talk to us but the
authorities were having none of it is so
difficult to he informed us that this
Detention Center has an open door policy
so we made arrangements to meet up
outside I was curious about how the
migrants were getting out of the
supposedly secure
facility it turns out they're more or
less free to roam but they have to
return each night if they want to pursue
their Asylum
claims hanbal took us to a beach that's
been voted the world's best ironic then
that these Shores are also associated at
with so much
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Doom
foreign
spee
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speee foreign
spee
speech what way he would want a medicine
how do you
get a victim of geography this
traditional fishing Village has
essentially become an open prison for
poor and deeply traumatized
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survivors the boat tragedies are part of
the identity of this beautiful island
they affect the lives of the locals as
well as the migrants for all we know
there could be a boat on its way
tonight
and there
was we see the government has foret
about us don't lose don't lose
no it's a possible film I
desde