Migrants, fisherman Lampedusa saves 24: “What a hero, denounced but I would do it a thousand times”

“I would do it again a thousand times. I couldn’t reverse course and leave them in the sea. A person who has a heart can’t do it. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night.” Vincenzo Partinico, 57, is the fisherman from Lampedusa who last Saturday rescued a cart with 24 migrants on board thirty miles from the island. Yet, he is not there to be called a hero. “But as a hero, I didn’t do anything great,” he tells Adnkronos. He never left anyone at sea. “Every fisherman knows that it is not possible”, says Vincenzo, who has been dealing with waves since he was 12 years old. “First with my grandfather, then with my father,” he proudly admits. So also Saturday night he went out with his boat of just over 8 meters for a fishing trip. It was 39 miles from the coast. “It was 4.45 in the morning, I was waiting for dawn with the lights on to start fishing – he says -, when I felt a bump and then I found 8 people on the bow”. Agitated moments during which the sea cart on which the migrants were traveling began to take on water. “Some ended up in the sea, so together with the guy who works with me we started throwing life jackets. We recovered two from the sea. Then all the others.” In a chain of solidarity that those who live the sea know well. “In the past I happened to help fishermen, boaters. Migrants? They are human beings. There is no difference and whoever says the opposite is just an idiot.” “I was afraid”, admits Vincenzo who still talks about that night his voice is broken by emotion. “Their clothes were soaked with water and their eyes were wide with terror of what they had experienced. They must have thought they were going to die.” There, at sea. As they sought a better life. “Once on board I gave them the water and the clothes I had on board”. Before entrusting them to the patrol boat of the Harbor Master’s Office. Now, however, Vincenzo will have to resort to the help of a lawyer. He was reported. He did not have clearance to be 39 miles from the coast. “They can give me all the fines they want, I would do it again … a thousand times more”, he says. And to those who talk about the emergency landings in Lampedusa he replies: “The emergency is in the images of the TV. The phenomenon has been repeated the same for years. It is in the countries of departure that action must be taken, but you don’t see migrants on the island. walking through the streets. Once landed they are taken to the hotspot and in front of our coasts there are quarantine ships. We are not afraid, but certainly we cannot say welcome to leave them herded like animals inside a center that can contain 250 alas, it also hosts 1,300 … “. (by Rossana Lo Castro)