Italy boat disaster: Ghanaian team to identify nationals

Ghana’s Embassy in Italy has dispatched a team to the Italian town of Lampedusa to ascertain the number of Ghanaian casualties following a boat accident that has so far claimed 130 lives.

Rescuers have saved more than 150 persons, while about 200 are unaccounted for. International media reports suggest the boat which set off from Libya was carrying about 500 migrants from Eritrea, Somalia and Ghana.

Embassy officials have today been meeting Italian government rescue agencies over the issue.

Deputy Information Minister, Felix Ofosu Kwakye, confirmed to Joy News Friday steps were being taken by the government to “verify reports” on the disaster,

He said upon government’s directive to the country’s mission in Italy, a team was dispatched to the area who are helping authorities there to identify Ghanaians among the victims.

He, however, admitted to a “tactical difficulty” the team is facing to immediately ascertain the identity of Ghanaians involved.

He explained that because these immigrants embarked on “perilous journey”, they do so without valid documents.

He further noted that people on such journey usually assume different identity and nationality to get easy passage to the European country of their choice.

However, he assured a “painstaking” work by the Ghanaian team to glean valuable information from the victims in order to ascertain the true Ghanaians among them.

The team, he remarked, would be interested to know how many Ghanaians are involved and how many survived to enable the government draw a clear plan to assist them.

The deputy minister wants the team to be given enough time to obtain the information they need, and hoped they will “wrap up within a reasonable time”.