State Funeral For Victims of Lampedusa Disaster

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta announced the more than 300 victims of migrant boat, which sank off the coast of Lampedusa, will receive state funerals. The announcement comes after the Prime Minister and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso visited the Island of Lampedusa to assess what is considered one of the worst disasters involving European bound migrants from Africa.

Letta and Barroso were met with a barrage of angry comments from residents when they arrived on the Italian island. Protestors held up banners and local vessels sounded sirens to show disdain for the lack of support they get from Rome and Brussels. Residents of the island, which is situated between Italy and Africa, have long complained they have been left to deal with immigration on their own with little support from other governments.

The EU’s Frontex Border Authority currently has four ships, two helicopters and two plane to patrol the Southern Mediterranean. Italy alone has about 30,000 migrants enter its country this year.

Barroso and Letta also visited the airport hangar serving as the temporary mortuary to house the dead of the diaster. Barroso said he would never forget the sight of so many coffins that included at least fifteen children and about ninety women.

The two officials spoke with survivors at the Island’s refugee center, which is home to around 1,000 migrants and has only 250 beds. Letta pledged to make migration a top priority on the European Union’s agenda and Barroso pledged about $40 million dollars help refugees already in Italy.

There were only 155 survivors of the 520 people believed to have been aboard the migrant boat that sunk October 3rd.  The discovery of four more brought the confirmed death toll to 302.