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F.G confirms death of 26 Nigeria females, as Italian prosecutors arrest two over the incident

The Federal Government of Nigeria has confirmed the death of 26 Nigerian girls whose bodies were discovered in a Spanish warship.

Tope Elias-Fatile, spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Federal Government had received a reliable report from its mission in Rome, confirming the death of the 26 Nigerian migrants, all ages between 14 and 18.

 “The report indicates that a Spanish Warship, Cantabria, brought the remains of the migrants to Southern Italian Port of Salerno.

“The Italian security officials who made this discovery are yet to confirm if they were purposely killed and why all who died were female.’’

Meanwhile, the Italian authorities have arrested two men, a Libyan and an Egyptian over the death of the Nigerian girls.

Five of the surviving migrants were quizzed about what happened to the dead women and they identified Al Mabrouc Wisam Harar, a Libyan and Mohamed Ali Al Bouzid an Egyptian who are believed to have manned the boats.

Salvatore Malfi of the Salerno port in response that the women are been trafficked as sex workers said, “Sex trafficking routes are different, with different dynamics used. Loading women on to a boat is too risky for the traffickers, as they could risk losing all of their ‘goods’ – as they like to call them – in one fell swoop.”

Spokesman for UNCHR, Marco Rotunno, described the experience as a tough one. He added that, “One lady from Nigeria lost all her three children,” with 90 per cent of the female migrants arriving with bruises and other signs of violence.

It’s very rare to find a woman who hasn’t been abused, only in exceptional cases, maybe when they are travelling with their husband. But also women travelling alone with their children have been abused,” he further stated.

A large number of the survivors were either Nigerian or from other sub-Saharan countries including Ghana, Sudan and Senegal.

 “I wanted to reach Italy. I don’t know what to do now,” said Dora Omoruyi, a 23-year-old arts student from Benin, Edo State. Italy is known as a hub for human traffickers to smuggle women to, where they often end up as prostitutes.

“I see no future in Nigeria, there are no jobs,” she said, standing next to a group of weeping Nigerian survivors.

Despite Italy and Libya’s pact to curb the perilous journey, over 2,560 migrants have been rescued in four days as people still attempt crossing the Mediterranean.

However, Italy authorities continue investigations to unravel the circumstances behind the death of the 26 Nigerian women.

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