
After our Eritrean brothers had rested, they had lunch with us. I sat next to one of them who spoke English and asked him about what he had confronted during his voyage. He told me that it was the fourth time he had attempted to cross to Italy. The first time he paid $1000.00, the second time the same, the third $600 and the last one $1600.00.
Leaving
Eritrea, he had to face a large voyage across the desert in order to arrive in
Libya. Once he arrived there he had to work and save for months to be able to
pay for the voyage. After each attempt he had to work to save the required amount. The first
time the Libyan police trapped them as they were about to embark and put them in jail. His
relatives had to pay so he could get out of the jail. The second
time they managed to leave, but they ran into bad weather and the
captain became frightened and confessed that he did not know how to pilot the
ship. And they had to turn back.


October
3, 2014, 367 refugees perished on this dangerous crossing. Many of them were from Eritrea, among them
many small children and women. This video shows footage of what occurred and
explains why they are leaving their country.
Pope Francisco spoke immediately after the event and also decided to go to Lampedusa in order to pray for the dead and asked everyone not to remain indifferent before such a calamity.