Five bodies of men who had drowned while trying to migrate to Europe were recovered this week off the southern coasts of the Italian island of Sardinia within a span of only 48 hours. The wreckage of the boat has not yet been found.
Five bodies of men between the ages of around 30 and 40 were recovered off the coast of southern Sardinia on Wednesday, August 31. The coast guard and financial police have since been combing the entire southwestern coast in the territory of Domus de Maria.
It is in this area that over the past year migrant-laden boats coming from North Africa have arrived. Port authority and financial police coastal patrols via sea and air had been stepped up lately, but while the deployment of forces has intercepted several boats, it did not manage to ward off the latest fatal incident.
No trace of the wreckage
The first two bodies were sighted by some ships on Monday morning. On Tuesday there was another sighting: two bodies off Isola Rossa, at Capo Teulada, and then on Wednesday morning the latest body was sighted by a Coast Guard helicopter two miles from Isola Rossa the latest confirmation that they were all on the same boat or boats together that sunk prior to reaching land.
What exactly happened at sea is not yet clear: the migrants, for unknown reasons, may have fallen into the water due to overcrowding on the boat. Or the boat may have had difficulties at sea, authorities said.
At the moment no trace or any wreckage has been found.
The bodies of the five men have been transferred to the San Michele di Cagliari cemetery for an external exam as ordered by the judiciary.
The Cagliari prosecutor's office, under the coordination of acting prosecutor Paolo De Angelis, has opened two files that have been combined into a single investigation into whether the boat was sunk on purpose and into human trafficking.
Checks to understand the date of death
The forensic examination will help to understand how long the bodies had been at sea. The incident may have happened between Friday and Sunday, when 216 migrants arrived in Sardinia via several boat landings across several areas of the island's southern coast. All are now at the Monastir migrant reception center.
The number of migrants that arrived in a very short time on the island is very high but the situation is not alarming, since they stay on Sardinia only a short time: after being identified they are deported or repatriated.