Italy: People Smugglers Allow Children to Die of Thirst Aboard Trafficker Boat

Two Syrian children, aged just one and two years old, were found dead after dying of thirst aboard a people smugglers boat that reached Italy this week, with four others also dying on the journey.

The two small children died of thirst along with a teenager and three adults, one of which was said to be an elderly woman, being discovered after the boat they were on with 26 others arrived in the Italian port town of Pozzallo in Sicily this week.

The boat is said to have set sail from Turkey and was on the sea for around two weeks before it was rescued by a freighter and then transferred to the Italian coastguard who brought the migrants to Italy, Il Giornale reports.

Of the surviving 26 migrants, which include four women, two unaccompanied minors and twenty men, all are said to be in serious medical conditions suffering from burns, dehydration and other forms of trauma.

Roberto Ammatuna, mayor of Pozzallo, commented on the arrival of the migrants saying, “They seemed to have come out of a Nazi concentration camp,” and added, ” It had been a long time since there had been similar landings, with migrants in precarious conditions, skin and bones, very dehydrated. It is a never-ending horror and unacceptable in 2022 by all institutions.”

“The only ones to do their part are the municipalities. Yet it is a worldwide phenomenon that must be tackled seriously by creating humanitarian channels,” he added.

Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni, who according to recent polls could become Italy’s first female Prime Minister later this month after the September 25th national elections, called for a European agreement with North African authorities to stop people smugglers and illegal arrivals. Maloni has previously endorsed the idea of setting up a blockade to stop boats from crossing the Mediterranean.

The deaths of the children and others are just the latest this year in the Mediterranean Sea, as Italy has seen a huge surge in illegal arrivals, with more migrants landing in July alone of this year than in the entire year of 2019 and the month of August saw even more landings. Some have forecast that if the current pace is maintained, Italy may see upwards of 100,000 arrivals by the end of the year.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.