29 Ghanaian stowaways rescued from migrant ship off Coast of Libya

News of a private ship carrying 629 migrants it had rescued off the coast of Libya after dinghies they were travelling in to Europe capsized became the topic on foreign media portals after reports had it that the ship was stranded at sea because Italian authorities would not sanction the docking of the ship a couple of weeks ago.

Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, following a special mission he embarked on to Valencia on behalf of Minority in Parliament revealed that 29 Ghanaians were aboard the ship carrying the 629 migrants.

After interacting with some of them, the migrants narrated their ordeal the MP, recounting the harrowing experiences they had before finally arriving in Spain.

Mr. Ablakwa expressed his disappointment that no African government had visited the camp of the survivors to see the interventions being put in place by the Spanish government.

“In my rather somber interaction with these Ghanaian migrants, they recounted harrowing accounts of their journey from Techiman in Ghana to Niger then to Libya across the 9,200,000 square kilometre Sahara desert before paying for their passage on board these dinghies from Libya to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.

They spoke to me about how extremely lucky they felt to have survived considering that majority of those they began the journey with lost their lives.

According to them, the first casualties occurred between Niger and Libya at the hands of militias and those who could not withstand the harsh desert conditions. Another round of deaths were recorded in Libya at the hands of notorious gang leaders while a final batch perished at sea when their dinghies capsized which as they narrate is quite a common spectacle.

I observed while I was still within the vicinity of the Complejo Educativo De Cheste that French Government officials had arrived to make good President Emmanuel Macron’s promise to assist Spain in granting asylum status to some of the migrants who desire to opt for France.

The sad irony however, is that so far no African Government official has visited the camp despite the fact that this is essentially an African problem,” His statement read.

He charged the incumbent government to improve the security at the routes often used by the migrants to depart the country to reduce its incidence.

Source: www.ghanaweb