Quote:
Originally Posted by accyman
these lot were heading to italy then on in through europe and i have no doubt the channel tunnel would have played a part in their journey after the french tossed them down it.
on the news it said they were using known smuggling routes so why arnt these routes been patrolled ?There may not have been so many lives lost infact possibly no loss of life if aprehended and shipped back to where they came from
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There is a European organization called Frontex that is supposed to patrol the coasts , but it only goes into action when the country the immigrants are heading for, asks them to intervene.
As regards Sicily, by the time these boats ( so old that they are used only once so there's no way they could make a return journey) are seen , they are already too far away from their port of departure, have often been abandoned by the organisers('scafisti) or are no longer in condition to arrive at a port on their own and are then helped or by the local fishermen or by the coastguard and this Frontex, as far as I know, as never intervened.
I think it's a problem destined to get bigger as these people will not stop trying ( there have been two more arrivals here this morning!) Perhaps a joint- European effort should be considered because I don't think Italy is in any condition to do it alone. Just heard on the news that the death toll is now 221 and still growing