ITALY / LAMPEDUSA SURVIVORS

African migrant workers, recovering from a hazardous boat trip to escape fighting in the Libyan city of Misrata describe their journey. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:31
• Production Date: 17 May 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: LIBYA; ITALY
• MAMS Id: U110517a

Description

STORY: ITALY / LAMPEDUSA SURVIVORS
TRT: 2.31
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / ITALIAN / NATS

DATELINE: 17 MAY, 2011, LAMPEDUSA, ITALY

Shotlist

1. Various shots, African migrants resting in Lampedusa reception centre
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Alex Amadin, Nigerian migrant worker:
“Three weeks or two weeks plus, we’ve been locked inside house, now way to come out, no way to get food. So not to die in that place, we find ourselves into the boat and run away."
3. Med shot, migrant resting in bed
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Alex Amadin, Nigerian migrant worker:
“So many people, pregnant women, women with children trying to save their lives. We all run into that one boat.”
5. Various shots, boat used to flee Libya, part submerged
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Nana Gyasi Asare, Refugee from Ivory Coast:
“There was nothing in the boat, not even anything to eat. Even nothing for the children. The boat was old and rotting, we thought it might even sink. We just prayed that we would make it here.”
7. Various shots, Lampedusa reception centre
8. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Federico Miragliotea, Director, Reception Centre:
“What we find when we try to help these people is a great deal of anxiety and tragedy – they may not have many possessions but they have emotional baggage. When we talk to them we discover there is not just anxiety about the past, but also a need to start a better life. But they don’t have the means to start afresh, which is why they need our help.”
9. Various shots, graves of unknown people who died crossing from Libya
10. Various shots, boat which ran aground last Sunday (three killed)
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Barbara Molinari, UNHCR:
“We are expecting this to continue and to increase as the weather conditions are going to be better and better throughout the summer season. As it has usually been throughout the ten years we have seen landings at Lampedusa the months where we have most landings are generally August, September and October.”

12. Various shots, shipwreck off Lampedusa

Storyline

These are the survivors. African migrant workers, recovering from a hazardous boat trip to escape fighting in the Libyan city of Misrata. The men are traumatized, exhausted both from the journey and by a conflict in a country which is not their home.

SOUNDBITE (English) Alex Amadin, Nigerian migrant worker:
“Three weeks or two weeks plus, we’ve been locked inside house, now way to come out, no way to get food. So not to die in that place, we find ourselves into the boat and run away. So many people, pregnant women, women with children trying to save their lives. We all run into that one boat!”

Conditions on the journey were grim.

SOUNDBITE (French) Unidentified refugee from Ivory Coast:
“There was nothing in the boat, not even anything to eat, even nothing for the children. The boat was old and rotting, we thought it might even sink. We just prayed that we would make it here.”

They did, but only just. Italian authorities helped them in from the sea and brought them to this reception center on island of Lampedusa. Here there is shelter and basic support. But most need more than practical help.

SOUNDBITE (Italian) Federico Miragliotea, Director, Reception Centre:
“What we find when we try to help these people is a great deal of anxiety and tragedy, they may not have many possessions but they have emotional baggage. When we talk to them we discover there is not just anxiety about the past, but also a need to start a better life. But they don’t have the means to start afresh, which is why they need our help.”

But not everyone makes it. UNHCR estimates one in ten dies on the journey over from Libya. Bodies washed ashore get a simple burial in Lampedusa’s cemetary. No-one here knows their names, so the graves are just marked with a number. To family and friends they are lost forever.

Three people died in this recent shipwreck. The rudder failed on the aging vessel causing it to run aground in heavy seas just short of Lampedusa’s harbour. Precious belongings left behind on deck are testimony to the panic.

But the dangers are not enough to deter others making this perilous journey.

SOUNDBITE (English) Barbara, Molinario UNHCR:
“We are expecting this to continue and to increase as the weather conditions are going to be better and better throughout the summer season. As it has usually been throughout the ten years we have seen landings at Lampedusa, the months where we have most landings are generally August, September and October.”

It’s estimated over a thousand people are planning to attempt the crossing from Libya with the next window of good weather. Most in boats as unsafe as this which means the sea may claim the lives of others who only wanted to survive.