Photojournalism: Honorable Mention 2023 (professional)
Inside the world's most dangerous migration route by Davide Preti (Italy)
ENTRY DESCRIPTION
The Central Mediterranean sea has been the world's most dangerous migration route for years.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) over 20,000 people have died or disappeared there since 2014, with more than 90% of deaths due to drowning, an average of six per day.
On 22 March, EMERGENCY NGO's SAR (Search & Rescue) Life Support ship left the port of Augusta to reach international waters south of Lampedusa.
On the morning of 25 March the report of a cluster of boats in distress some tens of nautical miles from the position of Life Support arrives. In agreement with the Italian Coast Guard, EMERGENCY NGO SAR vessel heads towards the reported position. At 11.30 AM the rescue of the first boat in distress is carried out. The boat had left Sfax, Tunisia, three days before.
On board the distressed boat were 44 people: 17 women, one of whom is 3 months pregnant, 5 children under the age of 3, 4 unaccompanied minors and 18 adult males. All are of sub-Saharan origin.
On 25th of March there is a new record number of daily arrivals on the island of Lampedusa: over 2700 migrants.
AUTHOR
Davide Preti is a filmmaker and visual journalist that collaborates with different newspapers, magazines and several ONG.
He works on different reportages focused on consequences of war, immigration and inequality.
His works have been published in: Corriere della Sera, Internazionale, Al Jazeera English, ABC Australia and others.
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