Italian court orders fresh investigations into 2013 Lampedusa tragedy

Italian navy officers and a ship captain stand accused of failing to rescue, and indirectly contributing to the death of over 268 people off the coast of Lampedusa

One of the many: AFM soldiers carry the coffins of the unidentified migrants who died in the shipwreck. Photo: Ray Attard
One of the many: AFM soldiers carry the coffins of the unidentified migrants who died in the shipwreck. Photo: Ray Attard

An Italian court has order a fresh investigation into the culpability of two Italian Navy officers, and the captain of the patrol vessel Libra which has been accused of refusing to respond to a distress signal by a fishing boat carrying refugees.

The boat, which left Syria with 480 aboard including more than 100 children, sank about 100km south of Lampedusa and 217km from Malta, but in the Maltese search and rescue region. 268 people are believed to have died in the incident, including 60 children.  
Among the officers under formal investigation is Lieutenant Catia Pellegrino, the commander the Libra, naval commander Luca Licciardi and Leopoldo Manna, the head of the Coast Guard.

On 11 October, 2013, Italian rescuers allegedly delayed responding to calls for help from a fishing boat crowded with refugees from Syria because of a bureaucratic tangle.

Last May, recordings emerged of five distress calls made by the boat to authorities, in which one of the refugees can be heard telling the Italian coast guard that “the boat is going down” and that it is in need of urgent help.

At one point, the Italian coast guard can be heard telling the refugees to “call Malta”.

In another of the recordings, Maltese authorities can be heard telling their Italian counterparts to send one of their own boats since the ship would have sunk by the time a vessel was dispatched from Malta.

The Maltese boat arrived at 5.51pm, by which time the refugees had been in the water for 40 minutes and most of the children were dead. Pellegrino’s vessel, which had not initially been ordered to respond, arrived shortly after.