Pope Francis offers prayers for victims of Lampedusa boat sinking
October 3, 2013: Pope Francis has offered prayers after a boat carrying African migrants
sank off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa this morning. The boat carrying
around 500 migrants reportedly caught fire with the estimated number of victims so
far reaching 82. According to Vatican News, among the victims were a pregnant woman
and two children, a boy and a girl, under the age of three. Around 150 survivors have
been rescued, but a number of bodies have been seen floating in the water and more
than 250 people are said to still be missing. In response to the tragedy Pope Francis
tweeted: “We pray to God for the victims of the tragic shipwreck off the coast of
Lampedusa.” Pope Francis visited Lampedusa, his first trip as Pontiff outside Rome,
in July. The small Italian island and its migrants’ centre is the first port of call
for scores of migrants arriving in Italy from all over the world. Monsignor Francesco
Montenegro, archbishop of Agrigento and president of the CEI for Migration, said:
“This is news that gives rise to feelings of sadness and outrage because we cannot
continue to count the dead as if we were simply witnesses. The stories of people who
make the trip, as the Pope said when he visited Lampedusa, are stories that are intertwined
with ours.” At around 7.20am local time, two distress signals were received by
the harbour master from two fishing boats, the coast guard reports. Both referred
to migrants drowning about half a mile off the coast off Lampedusa’s Rabbit Beach.
(Source: Catholic Herald)