Victim 186 of the Lampedusa shipwreck on October 3, 2013, which claimed the lives of 368 people, was a 20-year-old Eritrean who had crossed Sudan, Ethiopia and Libya before embarking for Italy. Like many of his fellow countrymen, he was seeking to reach Europe to escape hunger and persecution.

To officially confirm his name, authorities are awaiting the results of the final comparative tests between samples taken after the exhumation of the body at the cemetery of Bompensiere, in the province of Caltanissetta, and information collected prior to his death. However, there appears to be little doubt about his identity.

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Victims' identities, the commitment of the October 3 Committee

"According to the accounts provided by the family, his journey, which lasted about two years, began when he had just come of age," said Tareke Brhane, president of the October 3 Committee. Following the exhumation carried out on December 15 and the sampling performed on body number 186 by the Labanof team of the University of Milan, the Committee is preparing for a new mission.

At the end of June, a delegation will travel to the Netherlands to meet around ten families of migrants who may have died in the 2013 shipwreck and to carry out DNA sampling. The aim is to give an identity to men and women buried under a simple number, sometimes accompanied by a letter of the alphabet.

This is what happened in early May 2024, when migrant "Am16", also a victim of the October 3, 2013 tragedy, was finally given a name: Weldu Romel, 27, also from Eritrea. His body rests in the cemetery of Caltagirone.

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Brhane: 'A European DNA database is needed'

"Our struggle is aimed at giving a name and a dignified burial to the victims of shipwrecks, because denying this right goes against every principle of humanity. Every person deserves a dignified burial, and their families deserve a place to remember and mourn," Brhane stressed.

Over the past ten years, at least 60,000 people have died along the many routes leading to Europe, and more than 27,000 have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea; thousands more have disappeared. Behind every number there is a human being: a sister, a brother, a daughter, a son, a mother or a father.

"A European database dealing with all those who have died in the Mediterranean is essential," reiterated the president of the October 3 Committee.

"I will never tire of stressing the urgency of creating a European DNA database and launching a continent-wide cooperation project to ensure recognition of the right to identification for the thousands of unnamed bodies buried in European cemeteries. Italy has a model that can be extended to all 27 Member States," he concluded.

Author: Concetta Rizzo

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