Lampedusa: We pray for the African dead

Our imagination cannot stretch to the fear and horror that the deceased Africans and those who survived must have endured during the capsizing of the boat carrying nearly 500 migrants from Africa to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Italian officials estimate that the death toll will be close to 300 including women and children.

There are so many issues that are raised from this most awful tragedy, not least the overriding question: how did a boat, a kilometer away from the shore not attract the emergency services sooner? Reports coming out from the area highlight the fact that two other boats carrying migrants were intercepted earlier on in the day. Some have argued in the last 24 hours that the authorities are more focused on law enforcement than saving lives. Judith Sunderland, a researcher with Human Rights Watch who specialises in migration, told the Guardian today that:

What's chilling is to think that this could have been prevented."

Yesterday’s tragic event is sadly part of a long list of boat disasters in the area, most of which are entirely avoidable, and which inspired Pope Francis on his visit to Lampedusa to lambast the rich world, for its “globalization of indifference.

We wrote in 2011, for example, the plight of another sinking boat, in which it was reported that military vessels turned away from helping survivors.

Today the Italian Prime Minister has quite rightly called for a day of national mourning. But tomorrow the xenophobes and racists will be dancing on the graves of the dead using this as an example for tougher immigration policy and other race hatred vitriol. The fact that many on the boat were fleeing war-torn Somalia will largely be ignored. And we can only guess what people such as BNP leader Nick Griffin feel right now, after he infamously urged the sinking of boats carrying migrants to deter others from following.

After our prays for the dead and deep sympathy for their families and friends, we must renew our efforts on global poverty and confront an indifferent often rabid racist Europe which too often treats Africa’s poor with contempt.

Rest in peace our African brothers and sisters.

Simon Woolley