On Friday, March 30, around 10 am, the crew members of the Ocean Viking spotted a floating form, tossed by the waves of the winter sea, somewhere in the Mediterranean between the Tunisian coast and the Italian island of Lampedusa. In this area, where precarious boats carrying migrants attempt to reach Europe from North Africa, there was little doubt about what they were witnessing.

As they approached in dinghies used to rescue people attempting the crossing in inflatable boats or metal and wooden skiffs, the rescuers from the non-governmental organization SOS Méditerranée, which operates the ship, identified the body of a woman. In footage taken during the operation, her face was turned toward the bottom of the sea, her body encircled by an inflated inner tube that had not been enough to save her.

This nameless body bore witness to a disaster that remained invisible but all too real. As Radio Radicale – the official radio of the Italian Radical Party, and its journalist specializing in migration issues, Sergio Scandura – revealed, eight vessels in distress that had departed from the Sfax region in Tunisia between January 14 and January 21, carrying up to 380 people, had been reported by the Italian coast guard in the area.

You have 62.77% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.