[Man] Quinze Minutes: the editors' reporting magazine

[Woman] After the Lampedusa shipwreck,

we carry on our inquiry into the <i>causes</i> of recent migrants' boats shipwrecks.

Quinze Minutes magazine crossed the Mediterranean

to meet NGOs, academics and families who inquire

into the dramatic circumstances of Europe-bound migration.

"Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean: who is guilty?"

a reportage in Tunis by Alexandre Habay, edited by Sylvain Michel.

[coast guard] Pronto? A che distanza siete da Lampedusa?
(Hello, how far are you from Lampedusa)

[shipwrecked man] [unclear - in Arabic?]
[coast gard] Dove siete? (Where are you?)

[shipwrecked man] [unclear - in Arabic?]
[coast gard] Dove siete? (Where are you?)

[shipwrecked man] [unclear - in Arabic?]
[coast gard] Pronto? (Hello)

[Alexandre Habay (?)] What we heard is a Mayday call made via cell phone

by someone on the boat that got shipwrecked in front of Lampedusa

on September 6, 2012.

It's a Mayday call. It's really, really tragic to hear that.

The caller's hopelessness perfectly comes through

and unfortunately, this call is also rather unclear, actually.

This is certainly one of the reasons why it was difficult for the Italian coast guards

to immediately identify the position of the boat after this call,

and this may have been a cause of the very shipwreck

and of over 70 people's disappearance.

This incident actually remains a mystery:

over 50 people were rescued, about ten bodies were found

but the other people were never found

and thus it is not known whether they in fact survived

or if the boat sank,

as neither the wreck nor the other bodies were found.

GSM coverage usually starts a few kilometers from coasts.

So we know that this boat was very, very near Lampione

when this Mayday call was made - and there were several such calls

and several calls to passengers' families too.

[music]

[Charles Heller] So, my name is Charles Heller.

I'm a reseracher at London University and I am presently here

to support families and associations

in reconstructing various sea incidents

in order to understand what actually happened to all these missing or dead people:

in fact, these families whom we shall meet are searching for the truth.

[Imed Soltani] Well, I'm Imed Soltani.

I've just founded this association called "La terre pour tous" (Earth for all).

I'm Tunisian, an Arab

and I have to work more than you

because if your European children want to go to Tunisia or Algeria

they can come without hassle.

But as to us, if someone wants to go to the other side, they must die at sea.

And there's this name, I can tell you this name

There's the name of Mohamed El Himi, this one

There's Husein ben Ahmed el Himi, there's Nebil el Gazueli, there's Ali ben Attar ben Bouli,

There's Sadr ben Bouli,

all these names, this Kerim ben Ourdi Mbarki,

this one you see a third (check) -- this one is the land of Lampedusa.

[Habay] So actually, you've enlarged pictures from Italian TV news

and you try to identify these young boat people?

[Soltani] Yes. Families have recognized these children.

[Habay] Thus these young people, visibly, survived`

Where are they now? Do you know where they are?

Are they in touch with their families? Did it end w--

[Soltani] No, nobody, no contact with families.

People who get into Lampedusa don't give their real name.

They tell other names.

Some people don't even want to give their fingerprints.

[children's voices]

[Habay] What are we looking at?

[Man] This one is my brother, this one.

[Habay] What's his name
[Man] M'hamed Haboubi - Mohamed Haboub.

[Habay] Yet there are -- well, the pictures is not very clear -

yet there are many -- are you sure it's him?

[Man] Yes, my brother: he's been living with me for 22 years.

[Habay] And where do you think your brother is, now?

[Man] I don't know, it's the province (?) -- we are trying to find where he is.

[Habay] Because of course, if he'd safely reached Europe,

he would have called you; are you expecting a call from him?

[Man] Of course, but the Italian government made no declaration about these people.

[Heller] Clearly, any time a relative is missing,

the family can't help but imagining what their fate might be.

And people in Switzerland whose relatives are missing go through the same experience

our mindset can't help but imagining the worse as well as the best scripts

thus I think that the first thing these families request

is to know what happened to their relatives.

[Habay] Thus you, Charles Heller, in this research you are doing,

funded for instance by the Swiss national research fund,

thus by what means do you try to reconstruct what happened at sea?

Do you have technical means, for instance, do you conduct an inquiry?

[Heller] Nowadays, incidents leave multiple traces:

when there are survivors, their accounts,

many migrants phone their families.

Then there are all kinds of other elements that can be used, like satellite images,

which can enable us to understand which boats, which ships

were near a given boat.

[Habay] So why are you trying to reconstruct this context, actualy?

In order to identify responsibilities?

[Heller] In the last 20 years, there have been over 14'000 deaths

at the sea boarders, only of the Mediterranean.

And these are only documented instances, so obviously, there have been many more

and no one answers for these deaths.

In 2011 there was a turning point

with NATO's military intervention in Libya,

and with the shared feeling of many associations, who said:

"But there has been a record number of deaths this year in central Mediterranea

whereas over 40 NATO ships are deployed in front of Libyan coasts,

precisely in the area where these deaths happened."

And in this context, we made an inquiry about a ship that left Tripoli

on March 27, 2011

and after barely 24 hours, was in distress

with no more fuel.

It drifted for 14 days in the area monitored by NATO

which, again, was probably, at that time,

the most monitored sea area in the world.

Italian and Maltese authorities, NATO, all new about their distress.

In spite of the fact that there had been <i>two</i> visits by an helicopter marked "army",

and when half the people on board were already dead,

passengers drifted near a big army ship

whose crew just photographed them before abandoning them to their fate.

In the end, only 9 out of the 72 passengers survived.

The report we wrote about this tragedy, this shipwreck

was the basis for a claim filed against the various states involved in the Libya operation.

This is the first attempt to identify who is directly answerable for these deaths

beyond, again the deep political responsibility

of the European Union and of the Southern Mediterranean sates.

And we also try to make inquiries about other shipwrecks that happened.

We are closely following incidents that happened in Lampedusa in recent days.

[Voices in Arabic]

[Habay or Heller?] So we are in Gebel Achmad, a very lower class neighborhood of Tunis

from which about twenty boys left on the boat

whose Mayday call we heard.

We're going to meet families who are still wondering what happened on that day.

[Voices in Arabic]

[Bensmida] My name is Mohamed Bensmida.

I am the father of Ahmed Bensmida who was shipwrecked on September 6, 2012

[words in arabic] 17 year old.

[Interpreter] His son is 17 year old and he wanted to do as his friends from this neighborhood,

so, in order to better and change his life,

he suddenly left.

[Bensmida ?] The agent...
[Habay?] 136 people on board?

[Bensmida ?] Yes. That's when they arrived, 80 <i>amesh</i>, missing.

[Habay] What happened? Does one know?

[Bensmida] They say that they are, <i>maneh</i>, that the boat got broken, but [continues in Arabic]

[Interpreter] The script becomes unclear after that.

[Interpreter + Bensmida in Arabic] They are not convinced of what really happened.

His son's friends say that they saw his son swimming, in front of them.

And as night fell, they didn't see him afterwards.

It's ironic that a pregnant woman can reach the coast swimming

and that others haven't - well, that they died.

[Bensmida ?] It isn't true. I'd like to have more explanations.

[Habay] If he'd managed to reach Italy, you would have heard from him,

or was he registered by authorities?

[Interpreter + Bensmida in Arabic] He says they live in a delusion

because they've heard that some people reached the shore,

then some are in prison.

What's sickening is the delusion and vagueness.

[Bensmida] They made a Mayday call, Italia Ouini (?) made this Mayday call.

[Interpreter] The Italian and Tunisian governments are involved in this shipwreck

because there was a Mayday call, he said,

and normally, they must respond, and there was no response.

[Zwaoui] [speaks in Arabic]

[Interpreter] So she says her name is Samia Zwaoui (?).

Her son is Bachlis Kilini (?)

and he has been missing since September 6, 2012.

[Interpreter + Zwaoui in Arabic] She had --

out of 56 survivors who said that the hull sank.

And her son's friend got a message saying

that he saw her (his?) children being taken away by Italian police in Palermo, in the port. <i>athlewa?</i> (check)

[Habay] OK. So you think he is still alive?

[Zwaoui] [speaks in Arabic]

[Interpreter] She has a feeling that her son is alive.

[Zwaoui and the interpreter speak in Arabic]

[Interpreter] She got a phone call from a double zero plus 44 number,

and someone said "Hello" several times
[Habay[ That's England.

[Interpreter] I don't know what country code +44 is, but anyway, it's someone who --

she felt it was her son because it was 5 months and half after the shipwreck

and it was just to make sure whether it was actually her voice, his mother's voice, or not.

She tried to ring back but she got a busy tone.

[Zwaoui] [in Arabic]

[Interpreter] She even tried to call back yesterday.
[Zwaoui] [speaks in Arabic]

[Heller or Habay?] So, we've just heard these accounts.

It's rather difficult to know what to think of them.

Maybe some families are still in denial.

Anyway, as often happens when people go missing,

these families hang on to the slightest hope.these families hang on to the slightest hope.

[Prayer call; bus engine]

[Synthetic voice] Next stop, Vidy (?)

[Habay] So now, we are back in Switzerland, at Mont sur Lausanne,

and we are going towards the Civil Protection shelter where some asylum requesters are staying.

A group of young people are waiting there,

and among them, there is a Tunisian man with whom I have an appointment,

and we'll talk with him about these Mediterranean crossings.

[2 voices, in English and Arabic ?]

[Interpreter ?] They came, 300 people in a boat.

[Man speaks Arabic]
[Interpreter] They came from Zarzis

a town on the Mediterranean shore. They paid 10'000 Euros to come here.

[Interpreter +man in Arabic] He came here after the 2011 revolution.

They denied his asylum request in Italy.

[Habay] And in Switzerland?

[Interpreter + man in Arabic] His asylum request was denied.

He must leave Switzerland by October 31.

[Habay] Do you think all that was worth it?

Taking these risks, paying 10'000 Euros, risking to die at sea?

Was it worth it to do that? Do you regret--

[Interpreter + man in Arabic] He regretted it
[Habay] Why?

[Interpreter + man in Arabic] He is disappointed.

He came here looking for another, better, life, and he found something worse: he is in a bunker.

[Arabic song]

[Interpreter] "I've remained all alone in my exile, and I suffer, and I'm unlucky."

These are the lyrics of this song.
[Arabic song]

[15 Minutes jingle]

[Journalist] This reportage can be seen again at any time on www.rtsinfo.ch