Italian prosecutors have commenced investigations into the death of 26 Nigerian women, whose bodies were discovered in Spanish warship in the Italian coast City of Salerno.
The victims were said to be mostly teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18, and are believed to have been sexually abused and subsequently murdered in an attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
The bodies were discovered in the Spanish warship, Cantabria, which docked in the city, carrying 375 rescued migrants. 23 of the dead women were said to have been on board a rubber boat carrying 64 other migrants.
Italian authorities related that the bodies were being kept in a refrigerated section of the warship. It also said that most of those rescued are from sub Saharan African Nations including Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Ghana and The Gambia.
Among the rescued 375 migrants, 90 are women with eight pregnant, 52 children and some Libyan men and women.
“People-smuggling gangs charge each migrant about $6,000 to get to Italy, $4,000 of which is for the trans-Saharan journey to Libya, according to the Italian aid group L’Abbraccio. Many migrants have reported violence, including torture and sexual abuse by the gangs”.
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman, Marco Rotunno, said the 26 dead women were involved in a shipwreck off Libya.
In the meantime, five migrants are being questioned by Italian authorities in Salerno.
A recurring dilemma
In 2015, more than 5,350 migrants lost their lives in the Mediterranean in an attempt to cross into Europe, with Nigeria having a great number among the victims.
According to the International Organisation for Migration, the rise in deaths as at 2015 increased 30 per cent more than recorded cases in 2014.
The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Maroof Giwa, said, in 2017, more than 10,000 Nigerians have died between January and May. He added that 4,900 died in the Mediterranean, with a larger percentage dying in deserts, and via Morocco.
Earlier, more than 8,300 migrants were rescued by Italian Coastguard among which were teenagers and children.
However, despite the increasing rate of death, many still venture into the perilous journey.
Many Nigerians have blamed the Federal Government of not doing enough to improve the living standard of Nigeria and Nigerians, adding that with the provision of social amenities and infrastructure, the urge and rate of illegal migration would collapse.
They also blamed illegal immigration on economic hardship and societal neglect especially for the teeming youth.
They suggested that the problem of illegal migration would be tackled using infrastructural development and increase in power to boost the productivity in the Nation.
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistance to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Matters, Abike Dabiri- Erewa, while expressing condolence to the families of the victims, appealed to Nigerian youths to desist from the practice of illegal migration.
She also revealed plans to curb the rate of illegal immigration, saying that a document would be unveiled in July next year.
