[WATCH] Peppi Azzopardi pens poignant poem on children left to drown at sea

As government decides to prevent migrants' entry into Malta to preserve army resources, TV presenter Peppi Azzopardi writes moving poem on a child left to drown

12 April 2020, 4:16pm
by Massimo Costa

1 min read

TV presenter Peppi Azzopardi has penned a moving poem on the reality of children left to drown at sea due to countries deciding to close their ports amid the COVID-19 crisis

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Xarabank presenter Peppi Azzopardi has written a poem framing the government's decision to halt migrant rescue operations to conserve army resources with the reality this brings with it of children being left to die at sea.

A number of migrant boats are currently stranded at sea between Malta and Libya, but the Italian, Libyan and Maltese authorities have taken the decision to block further entry into their ports of people needing rescue.

One of these boats has capsized, with humanitarian NGO Sea Watch saying an unknown number of people are feared dead.

"The virus: yesterday 53, today 33. My God, what has happened to us, it didn't allow us to stay together, how it is spreading everywhere... the water entering our boat," Azzopardi writes in his poem, which starts from the point of view of a person stranded at sea on a vessel.

His poem then shifts to the perspective of a country which has closed its ports due to the coronavirus.

"Sorry, little boy, I know you are not to blame, but we've now closed our ports. I'm sorry they didn't manage to inform you that we won't be saving you. We are facing many problems - you better drown quietely."

Massimo Costa joined MaltaToday as a journalist in 2017.