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--- Begin Message ---This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED]/-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: IN AMERICA - IN THEATRES NOVEMBER 26 Fox Searchlight Pictures proudly presents IN AMERICA directed by Academy Award(R) Nominee Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot and In The Name of the Father). IN AMERICA stars Samantha Morton, Paddy Considine and Djimon Hounsou. For more info: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/inamerica \----------------------------------------------------------/ Boat Carrying African Immigrants Reaches Italy With 13 Dead October 21, 2003 By ALAN COWELL ROME, Oct. 20 - Italian authorities reported Monday that at least 13 people died in a small wooden boat adrift in the Mediterranean trying to reach this country from North Africa. A rescuer described the 40-foot vessel carrying the dead and 15 survivors as resembling "a scene from Dante's Inferno." One of the survivors, an unidentified woman, was so weak that she was initially taken for dead after the crew of an Italian fishing boat spotted the stricken vessel on Sunday. Italian authorities quoted survivors as saying the vessel had been at sea for more than two weeks but had run out of fuel, food and water. Survivors, thought to be Somalis who had traveled from Libya, said they had thrown many bodies overboard before they became too weak to manage even that, Italian authorities said. The final death toll could therefore climb much higher. Survivors were quoted as saying the bodies dumped at sea included those of 15 women and 7 children. This newest grisly episode on the high seas between North Africa and the Italian island of Lampedusa - which is closer to the coast of Tunisia than to the Italian mainland - served to underscore the huge challenges confronting European authorities seeking to control traffickers of immigrants and fugitives ready to risk death for a chance of a new life in Europe. "This tragedy weighs heavily on the conscience of Europe, but it also puts the spotlight on African governments doing nothing to control this exodus," said the Italian interior minister, Giuseppe Pisanu. He was speaking after a meeting with his French, British, German and Spanish counterparts in La Baule, in western France, that produced agreement on a range of measures, including a crackdown on people-smuggling gangs and stronger visa controls to prevent a flow of illegal migrants, particularly from Eastern Europe, China and Africa. With its long, unguarded coastline, Italy has long been a target for illegal immigrants. Once they reach Italy, the absence of cross-border controls between many European Union countries makes it easy for them to disappear into a growing underground of unauthorized residents. Italy partly sealed off the flow when it struck an agreement in 1998 with Albania to prevent the use of Albanian ports for illegal sailings. But Rome has been unable to do the same with Tunisia and Libya. Michele Niosi, the commander of the harbor master's office in Lampedusa, quoted survivors as saying around 85 people had been on the small boat when it sailed from North Africa. Initial accounts by survivors said the vessel departed Oct. 3 but soon ran out of fuel and began to drift. Some survivors said they had had nothing to eat or drink for 10 days before their rescue, according to Italian news reports. Stefano Valfre, 34, the skipper of the fishing boat, the Sant' Anna, said he and his crew spotted the stricken boat about 50 nautical miles off Lampedusa on Sunday. "The bodies were piled up one on top of the other," he said in an interview by radio with Italy's ANSA news agency. "You couldn't tell the living from the dead. All we could see was the arms of some of them stretching out to us to ask for help." Daniela Pugliese, a spokeswoman for the Italian Interior Ministry, said illegal immigrants were usually sent back to their country of origin. "But in special circumstances like this, when the situation is really desperate, they may be given permission to stay for humanitarian reasons. But it is too early at this stage to tell what will happen to these people." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/21/international/europe/21IMMI.html?ex=1067766972&ei=1&en=daf712226ef79470 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
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