On World Refugee Day, Kurdish families mourned the nineteen people from Iraqi Kurdistan who lost their lives trying to reach Italy, after twin disasters on migrant boats in the Ionian Sea on 17 June.
Those who drowned include eight people from Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî) and 11 from Erbil.
They died alongside refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, and Syria. Many died of thirst while waiting to be rescued. Several boats reportedly passed the shipwrecked people, but did nothing.
All 75 of one boat’s passengers were reportedly thrown overboard after an explosion. At least 65 of them drowned.
🔷Two migrant boats sank off Italy, resulting in numerous deaths, primarily Kurds from Erbil and Sulaymaniyah#KurdishMigrants I #KurdistanRegionalGovernment I #Italy
🔗https://t.co/qDsN0RKo9V pic.twitter.com/liOtnkSYFc
— MedyaNews (@1MedyaNews) June 19, 2024
One Kurdish survivor, Ro’ya Muheidini, told media: “We stayed on the water for four days and no one came to help us.”
“Two or three boats passed by and they got very close. We shouted a lot for help, but they ignored us and passed by,” the 19-year-old said.
“If it was not for a French boat, none of us would be here.”
One mother, who was among those shipwrecked, told the Rudaw news agency how her family died of thirst while waiting for help. “My husband and daughter kept crying for water. All they cried for was ‘water, water,’” said Muzhda Omer.
Bafel Jalal Talabani, President of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), offered condolences to the families of the refugees, and pointed out that authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq need to improve conditions for people in the region.
He wrote: “We are extremely saddened by the deaths of several citizens near the Italian border and deeply concerned. We share their loss and send our sincere condolences to their families.”
“The recurrence of these terrible incidents serves as an urgent call to act more responsibly, give our citizens a better life under healthy governance, and stop disappointing our youngsters, who are the nation’s most valuable resource,” he concluded.
Iraqi Kurdish migrants are fleeing to Europe due to poor economic conditions, instability and political repression in their homeland. Despite the Kurdistan Region’s natural wealth, unemployment and poverty remains high, particularly among youth.
The Kurdistan Regional Government said that it will send a delegation to Italy to investigate the tragedy.
