On May 19th 2024, the Calabrian port of Roccella Ionica witnessed a resurgence in migrant landings, with three separate arrivals occurring within just 16 hours. These landings follow a period of relative calm and were the result of rescue operations conducted by the local coast guard.
The first landing occurred during the night between Saturday and Sunday, May 18-19, involving 38 Bangladeshi nationals. These adult men had departed from Libya on a small vessel and were intercepted off Capo Spartivento, approximately 30 miles from the Calabrian coast.
Later on May 19, two more landings took place within a few hours of each other. In the first of these, 87 migrants from Pakistan were brought to the port by the coast guard after being intercepted on a sailboat five days post-departure from Turkey’s coast. This group included two women and a dozen unaccompanied minors.
The second group, arriving late on May 19, comprised 48 migrants from Iraq and Iran. Among them were three women and three minors, including two children under the age of six. They had left Turkey’s coast on May 16 on a 12-meter sailboat intercepted about 40 miles off the Calabrian coast.
In total, 173 people arrived in Roccella Ionica across the three landings. Upon disembarkation, the migrants underwent medical checkups and were identified by security forces. They were then taken to a temporary shelter in the port set up by the Reggio Calabria prefecture. This facility is managed by Red Cross volunteers, the city’s civil protection unit, and a team from Doctors Without Borders.