The 5 men and 3 women, one of whom in an advanced state of pregnancy, who were found yesterday evening by the CP324 patrol boat of the Coast Guard which rescued a boat 42 miles from Lampedusa, died of hunger and cold. in Sar Maltese waters.
It was reported to the rescuers first and to the police afterwards, as soon as they arrived at the hotspot in the Imbriacola district, by the 42 surviving migrants.
Everyone was soaked wet, cold and dehydrated.
The migrants told cultural mediators that they left Sfax, Tunisia, at 3 am last Saturday with the 6-metre boat after being locked up in a safe house in Mahdia for months.
The bodies of those who failed to arrive alive in Lampedusa were taken, after disembarking at the Favarolo pier,
There are also two missing, according to migrants rescued by the Coast Guard in Sar Maltese waters, 42 miles from Lampedusa.
The survivors reported that there was a woman on the boat with her 4-month-old baby who, due to the cold, died during the journey and her mother, out of desperation, threw him into the sea.
A man dived into the water hoping to recover the body of the newborn, but would have drowned in the waves.
The boy's mother also died a few hours after throwing her baby into the water.
And her body, as well as that of the other seven travel companions, was left inside the hull.
"I appeal to the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni. The Government does not leave us alone to manage this immense tragedy. Help us, in this way we are no longer able to manage", said the mayor of the Pelagie, Filippo Mannino, while went to Favarolo pier where the Coast Guard boat arrived with the migrants.
