On July 2nd 2024, the MSF rescue ship Geo Barents arrived in Ancona with 34 migrants, including 14 unaccompanied minors, rescued off the Libyan coast on June 27. Among these survivors is a young girl from South Sudan who will remain in Ancona, under the care of local social services.
The Geo Barents rescue mission, managed by Médecins Sans Frontières, rescued these individuals in international waters. Upon their arrival in Ancona, the MSF representative in charge of the search and rescue mission shared harrowing stories of the survivors. Many of the migrants had left their home countries months earlier and endured horrific experiences in Libya. Some were sold and tortured by Libyan militias and human traffickers who sought to extort money from their families. The traffickers used video calls to show the migrants’ suffering to their families, demanding ransoms.
Fulvia Conte, MSF’s Search and Rescue Team Leader, emphasized the desperation driving these migrants to undertake such perilous journeys. She noted that the situations these people faced were so dire that they felt compelled to cross the sea despite the dangers. Many of the unaccompanied minors are very young and would not be allowed to travel alone in their home countries. They embarked on these journeys, enduring months without contact with their families, in the hope of securing a better future.
Conte also criticized the current disembarkation policies, highlighting the long journey to Ancona. She argued that it would have been more humane and efficient to allow the migrants to disembark at the nearest port and then transport them to Italy on faster ships. The extended journey added another layer of hardship to their already traumatic experiences.
This recent arrival marks the tenth humanitarian ship to dock in Ancona since the beginning of 2023, bringing the total number of shipwreck survivors to one thousand. It is the third such ship to arrive in the Marche region in 2024. The migrants on this ship hail from various countries, including Syria, Sudan, South Sudan, Egypt, and Eritrea. Among them are 19 young adults, including one woman, and 15 minors. The young unaccompanied girl from South Sudan, aged between 14 and 17, will be cared for by Ancona’s social services.
The other unaccompanied minors will be distributed across different regions of Italy. Seven of them will be relocated to Molise, while the others will remain in the Marche region, as decided by the Ministry in agreement with the Prefectures. Deputy Mayor of Ancona, Giovanni Zinni, confirmed that the municipality will be responsible for the young girl.
This tragic situation underscores the dire circumstances many migrants face and the urgent need for better policies and support systems to handle such humanitarian crises.