Alex Trelinski
SEVEN people in charge of a migrant boat that sailed from Africa to the Canary Islands have been arrested over the murder of four people.
Their brutal behaviour was all about ‘instilling fear and respect’.
The boat arrived in El Hierro, Tenerife on November 3 with 207 migrants making the perilous sea journey.
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They were taken to the humanitarian emergency facility at Las Raices where they started to recount their stories of terror imposed on them by the boat captains.
The seven detainees- all from Senegal- ran a reign of terror on board- imposing severe punishments on anybody regarded as ‘difficult’.
The journey from The Gambia and Senegal turned into ‘hell’ just three days after setting sail.
One of the passengers, visibly affected by the difficulty of the trip, suffered from disorientation which caused three of the captains to blame him for a malaise among the travellers.
He suffered a series of brutal beatings, along with his friends who defended him.
Tensions rose still further when a lack of food and water took their toll on the migrants.
The situation was exploited still further by the captains and to ‘instil fear and respect’, they decided to kill four of the travellers.
They later disposed of the bodies by throwing them into the sea.
One of the migrants said the attacks were incessant and that the screams of the victims resonated in the silence of the night, causing collective fear.
“It was as if the sea had no end and neither did the horror,” a young person told a social worker at the Las Raices reception centre.
The Guardia Civil began an investigation and managed to identify three of the victims thanks to international cooperation.
Families in Gambia and Senegal received the news of the loss of their loved ones via a team made up of officerss deployed to the region and personnel from the Senegalese National Gendarmerie.
The identity of the fourth victim remains to be confirmed.
The Guardia also seized some personal items found in the boat that were relevant to the investigation including identity documents.
The seven accused were brought before the Court of Instruction number 2 of La Laguna.
The Prosecutor’s Office requested that the detainees be jailed ahead of their trial and a judge granted the application.
Sources from non-governmental organisations say this episode is just one example of the humanitarian drama that migrants go through in making their journeys from Africa.
