Italy overwhelmed by mass arrivals in the Mediterranean

"We need the government to help us to deal with all these arrivals. It's not that we are racist, but it does not have sufficient means."

It is an ever more important stream of migrants who arrive in Italy: more than 10,000 since the beginning of the month. A figure never reached before.

And then there are those who do not have the chance to get ... So this Sunday, nearly 400 migrants have disappeared, in all likelihood, drowned in the sinking of their boat. That at least say survivors.

Initially, according to the evidence, they were nearly 550 in this boat and the Coast Guard could rescue 150 people.

This shipwreck is emerging as one of the deadliest in recent years.

These migrants are from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, including Syria. They take advantage of the chaos in Libya to try to cross the Mediterranean. In addition, with the end of winter, the weather is warmer.

But with these arrivals, the Italian government is exceeded. And the situation becomes tense in some ports of southern Italy. Example Corigliano Calabro (Calabria). This city has 43 000 inhabitants. "We need the government to help us to deal with all these arrivals, said one of the inhabitants. We are not racist, it's not that, it's just that we have not the facilities, we do not have sufficient means to help these immigrants. "

A little further, another resident said: "I'm sorry for all those people who come from countries where there is war, but must realize that here in our city, we can not accommodate them. You know me, it has been 2 years since I'm unemployed. Soon, I will have no choice because of the difficulty of living here, I will have to leave. "

NGOs and international organizations are annoyed by the lack of international reactions, including from the European Union.

Many blame the abandonment of the "Mare Nostrum" last October in favor of an operation called "Triton", much less ambitious and less effective to provide assistance to migrants.

Just since the beginning of the year, the Office of the United Nations for Refugees (UNHCR) has recorded more than 900 deaths ( - English version)