Roccella Ionica – Days of pain for the families of the missing in the shipwreck in the Ionian Sea that occurred last June 16, about 120 miles from the Calabrian coast. The relatives arrived in Roccella Ionica from various European countries to try to identify the bodies recovered by the Coast Guard in the days following the disaster. “They are looking for a ring, a mole, a scar to find a brother, a cousin, a niece among those now unrecognizable bodies recovered from the sea”, says Doctors Without Borders, which is assisting them and is made up of a psychologist, intercultural mediators and mediators. Among them was M., who patrolled the sea first with a helicopter and then with a yacht paid for at her own expense in order to find her brothers. “I am willing to spend any amount to find their bodies. One of the two had signs of torture suffered in Iran, several scars on his body, but he is not among any of the recovered bodies”, M. told the MSF teams, after arriving from Sweden.
“When I was a soldier I saw hundreds of deaths. But it is heartbreaking not to recognize my cousin and his family among these photos”, said A., an Iraqi, who arrived from London, who looked at the photos of the recovered bodies one by one, looking for the cousin and his wife – nine months pregnant – and their daughters aged 9 and 12. “My cousin sold her earrings in Turkey to raise money, they paid for the death trip. My aunt told me: ‘Bring me at least part of my son’s body, we have to bury him’.” “The stories of these people demonstrate how the lack of legal and safe channels is the direct cause of their death”, declares Monica Minardi, president of MSF Italy. “The Italian government and European countries – he adds – do something to prevent further tragedies and the institutions take action to protect people while respecting the dignity of those who died at sea due to the governments’ own inaction. While inhumane policies destroy entire families, the consciences of political decision makers get dirty with the lives of other human beings by trying to pass it over in silence.”
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
