The Comitato 3 Ottobre, a non-profit
organisation established to raise public awareness and promote
solidarity after the 3 October 2013 migrant shipwreck off the
Sicilian island of Lampedusa in which 358 people died, on
Tuesday called on the head of the Department for civil liberties
and immigration, the Special commissioner for missing persons
and the Prefect of Crotone to start giving names to the victims
of the shipwreck off Steccato di Cutro before they are buried.
So far 67 refugees and migrants are confirmed dead after a
fishing boat that departed from Turkey and thought to be
carrying up to 200 people broke up after running aground in
rough seas in Italy's southern Calabria region in the early
hours of Sunday morning. Around 80 people survived.
"As has been the case in other tragic shipwrecks, by virtue of
the Lampedusa Protocol and thanks to the tireless work of the
Labanof Institute (Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology and
Odontology) at the University of Milan, the identification of
shipwreck victims is possible", the Comitato said.
"It is imperative that, prior to burial, information be
maximized in anticipation of future identification by 'matching'
post-mortem and ante-mortem data. In the absence of a specific
protocol, we call on all authorities to apply Interpol's DVI
(Disaster Victim Identification) protocol providing for
photographic surveys, retrieval of clothing and personal
effects, and autopsy and odontological examination", the
Comitato continued.
"The families of the dead or missing should also be considered
victims of the shipwrecks and should be involved as far as
possible by the authorities in the process of identification and
burial ," said Tareke Brhane, President of the Comitato 3
Ottobre.
"We do not want to see these people once again remaining as
numbers and nameless victims. This latest tragedy evokes the
shipwrecks of 3 and 11 October, which shook the consciences of
our continent, exposing the consequences of the absence of real
migration policies. Sadly, ten years on people continue to die
in the Mediterranean because the choice is still to protect
borders, not people."
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