Tourists on holiday in Lampedusa were needed to document the latest tragedy at sea where, according to the testimonies of the two crews Maria Sole and Jamaica, two people lost their lives.
Nebel, Mina, Elena, Danila, Ezio, tourists from all over Italy who set foot on the island for the first time where local legends also say that there are mermaids. Because here more than anywhere else the sea is blue, free of any form of marine and atmospheric pollution and the caretta caretta turtles come punctually at the end of August to lay their eggs.
The travel agencies that had illustrated the holiday to the tourists at the Sole hotel had assured: “There won’t be any problem.” And in fact, as Mrs. Mina Nava, from Zanica, in the province of Bergamo, repeated: “There were no problems, it’s just that we realized all the wickedness of the man of our time.”
This is how tourists become heroes, fishermen of human lives, once again as happened to Vito Fiorino or Costantino Baratta on 3 October 2013 where 368 people died.
Tourists save and at the same time document, thus offering a key to understanding: “because only if you see it can you truly understand”. And so, as soon as the trip begins, you see the iron boat where a woman is waving a newborn baby in her arms to make a call for help, in the meantime a young man throws water from the boat which is now about to sink with a bucket. of those that our children would use on the beach. But the death punt is unstable and goes down quickly.
The two captains Franco Ruggiero and Piero Costanza secure the guests, telling them to go below deck, but they participate in the rescue, hiding their tears and giving a caress to those children who are shaking like leaves. From pain, from fear. Although they managed to save almost all of them, the regret is for those who they say they were unable to save.
A child and a boy of about 10 years old who fought to hold on to a donut until the end. Not succeeding because those who undertake the Mediterranean crossing to Lampedusa arrive exhausted, without strength. And generally people die earlier because in those rusty iron boats there is no water to drink, in winter children die of hypothermiafrom the cold.
At the Favaloro pier the women continue to mourn their children who died in the shipwreck. The two tourist boats are thus transformed into rescue assets in a Mediterranean where NGO ships are often hindered by the Italian authorities with administrative stops that for weeks keep them well away from search and rescue areas where there is an urgent need to intervene.
Tourists provided this Zanica, Meda, Bologna, Turin who in that sea have not met mermaids nor contemplated the beauties of sun-kissed bays. Rather, they had the opportunity to give themselves, opening their arms and hearts, bearing witness to the human drama of our time that always wants to be kept quiet.
Because there is always a political agreement that can reduce arrivals and departures. “Where are you my brother? Why don’t you ask about me, am I not your brother”, wrote in his poems the young Eritrean migrant Tesfalidet Tesfom who died in Pozzallo on 12 March 2018. Once again we are the ones who cannot find the answer.
