The girls, aged 14-18, are believed to have been migrants from Niger and Nigeria who had embarked on the treacherous route to Europe from Libya over the weekend.
Lorena Ciccotti, Salerno's head of police, told CNN that autopsies would be carried out on Tuesday and that coroners would be investigating whether the girls had been tortured or sexually abused. Their bodies were found close to a flimsy rubber dinghy that had all but sunk when rescuers arrived, Ciccotti said. Aid workers had described a grim scene: survivors hanging onto the remains of the vessel as the girls' bodies floated nearby.
Their rescue was one of four separate rescue operations carried out in the Mediterranean over the weekend. In total, 400 people were brought aboard the Spanish vessel Cantabria before disembarking at the Italian port town of Salerno. Among them were 90 women and 52 minors, including a week-old-baby, authorities said.
Libya is a well-known jumping-off point for migrants seeking refuge on European shores. The North African country is a hotbed for human traffickers, whose network of smuggling operations have gone widely unchecked due to Libya's lack of effective central governance.
From CNN
Lorena Ciccotti, Salerno's head of police, told CNN that autopsies would be carried out on Tuesday and that coroners would be investigating whether the girls had been tortured or sexually abused. Their bodies were found close to a flimsy rubber dinghy that had all but sunk when rescuers arrived, Ciccotti said. Aid workers had described a grim scene: survivors hanging onto the remains of the vessel as the girls' bodies floated nearby.
Their rescue was one of four separate rescue operations carried out in the Mediterranean over the weekend. In total, 400 people were brought aboard the Spanish vessel Cantabria before disembarking at the Italian port town of Salerno. Among them were 90 women and 52 minors, including a week-old-baby, authorities said.
Libya is a well-known jumping-off point for migrants seeking refuge on European shores. The North African country is a hotbed for human traffickers, whose network of smuggling operations have gone widely unchecked due to Libya's lack of effective central governance.
From CNN
What a painful death. Why are underage girls used for sex? This is really bad. What is this world turning to.
ReplyDeleteRIP girls. May God comfort all your families. Those that tricked you into this, may they never taste goodness Amen
People should just stop doing this to themselves. What in d world is a week old baby doing on the high seas?
ReplyDeleteRIP
ReplyDeleteThis is so so sad
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe the girls were killed by Spanish or Libyan authorities. Sad.
ReplyDeleteThey all knew what they were getting themselves involved in, except the babies of course. Suffocation, hypothermia or drowning are the likely cause of death. RIP to the dead.
ReplyDeleteVery sad.
ReplyDeleteThis is the worse kinda of death anyone should encounter and its happening on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteI watched a video on facebook where a young Nigerian gal was taken to the bushes and physical beaten into seizures by hitting large woods on her head repeatedly in Libya by Arab men.
She should be 15 or 16 years.
I wept. I am still heartbroken
Aisha Buhari, this is your cue to say something or do something.
ABIKE DABIRI....I guess this should be your JOB!!!!
Mediterranean! Mediterranean!! The fishes in that sea must be growing human parts by now. The number of people that have met their end on this treacherous illegal route is better imagined.
ReplyDelete"...gone widely unchecked due to Libya's lack of effective central governance" when you people instigated foolish Libyans to kill Gaddafi una know know.
How sad that these teenagers lost their lives this way. 90 women? This shows that human (especially child) trafficking is still rife, something needs to be done and real fast too.
Rip to the dead.
When you tell them the dangers that lies ahead of their journey, they say they don't care that others have gone and made it and by God's grace they will make it too.
ReplyDeleteThey believe money grows on tree in Europe, they believe anywhere else is better than the country they are living in.
They say they want a better life, they want a good life. They sell all their belonging and pay thousands of dollars to the traffickers. They expect the traffickers to tell them of the dangers that lie ahead but why will they - they are business men too.
When they finally arrive in Calais or Libya, they bundled into the immigration camp and given the option to return home but still they refuse thinking it is their rights.
Many of these people were warned and saw red flags but their greed kept them in their current predicament.
I have no pity for them.