He was only a few weeks old, maybe a little over a month old. And she died of hypothermia, due to the unbearable cold during the sea crossing, immediately after landing in Lampedusa. For the newborn, who arrived with her mother, a twenty-year-old girl originally from the Ivory Coast, and her 8-year-old sister, there was nothing that could be done: immediately transferred to the Polyclinic, the little girl was already in extremely critical conditions and the doctors could not help but declare her death.
Another tragedy of migrant travel in the Mediterranean. The little girl, her mother and her other daughter had left with a group of 55 people in total, originating from various African countries, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, crammed aboard a seven-metre metal boat. The departure took place yesterday night from Sfax-El Amra in Tunisia. The trip cost from 400 to 600 euros per person. There were also seven women and twenty other unaccompanied minors on board.
The migrants were rescued by the V1307 patrol boat of the financial police which intercepted them and took them to the Favarolo pier. The castaways arrived in Lampedusa in dramatic conditions. Some of them bore signs of violence on their arms and backs suffered before the journey, as confirmed by Francesco D’Arca, head of the Lampedusa clinic. The death of the Ivorian newborn sparked deep outrage
“We express deep sorrow and concern for the many children and adults who should not die in the Mediterranean,” said UNHCR Italy, the United Nations refugee agency. «It’s not inevitable: it’s a choice. When a newborn baby dies, it is not a fatality, it is the failure of policies that continue to put boundaries before life. The right to live and seek protection cannot be negotiable. Respect for international law must be full and substantial, putting the best interests of the minor first”, declared Giorgia D’Errico, institutional relations director of Save the Children.
«According to data collected by Save the Children Since 2014, more than 34,800 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean trying to reach a possible future. This year alone there are already more than 1,200 victims, of which over 800 in the central Mediterranean, and among them there are also many children: more than 100 every year in the last three years.”
