A Letter Shared With The Ghost Boat Families

This note—written in English and translated into Tigrinya—was sent to families of the 243 refugees who went missing in 2014 as our open investigation into their disappearance. We’re asking for your help to find them.

ኪቡራት ሲድራ
ከምቲ ድፊለት አሪክ ኣህዋትና ኒምርካብ ዝገብሮ ድነበረ ጻአሪ ኩላትና ንፈልቶ አና አሞ ህጂ አዉን ኒሱ ሚስ ናቱ ጋንታ ሃቢሩ አቲ ጉዳይ ቢ ተገዳሲነት ይጺአረሉ ኣሎ። አዚ ኪብል ከሎ ኣብ ሊብያ ኮይኑ ነዚ ጉዳይ ዚተሃጋገዝ ግዱስ ጋዘተግና ተረኪቡ ሚስ አሪክ ኮኢኑ ከኣ አቲ ኪጺናአ ዘለዎ ቦታ አንዳ ከደ ሃበረታ ኪአኪብ አዩ። ህጂ አቲ ከንዲ ናይ ሚድላይ ቦታ ኣብ ባህሪ አና ኣብ ገማጊም ባህሪ አዩ ኪከዉን & ብ ሳተሊዪት ዝተደገፈ መጺናአቲ ኪገብሩ አዮም። መኣሾ አዉን ከም ኒፈልቶ ኒ ሊአሊ ሺድሽተ ኣመት በዚ ጉዳይ አና ተመሳሳሊ ጉዳይ ተፈሪዱ ኣብ ኢታሊ ኣሎ አሞ አሪች ከኣ ኒሱ ኒሚዝሪራብ ኮጸሮ ኣለዎ። አዚ ጉዳይ ቢ ሚኪኛት ነው ዪር አና በኣል ሊደት ዚሂል አሉ ነሩ ህጂ ጊን ሚስ አዚ ኣብ ሊብያ ዘሎ ሰብ ቢ ሚካን ጻአሪ ዪገብሮ ኣለዉ አሞ ኒህና ከኣ ቢ ኣኪሚና ዘድሊ ሃበረታ ዘለና ኒሃጊዞም ኣንድ ጸሎት ንግበር ኣህዋተይ
ን ዚያዳ ሃበረታ ናይ አሪክ ዘላ አንግሊሽ ዝሰደደልይ ኣንቢብዋ

Dear Family Members,

When we started working on the Ghost Boat we knew it was going to be a difficult task. We were motivated to take on the investigation because we wanted you to know that there were people in the world who care, just as you do, about the fate of your loved ones. We also wanted to do everything in our power to try to find answers to end your long period of not knowing.

After two two months of intensive investigation, we ran into some roadblocks. Currently, we are waiting to speak with Measho Tesfamariam. He is in prison in Italy and was just sentenced to more than six years in prison for his role in the smuggling ring responsible for the disappearance of the Ghost Boat.

We are also working with a trusted local journalist in Libya who is helping us search for answers on the ground there. Due to the political situation in the country, Libya is a difficult place to find concrete information. And, even after we speak with Measho, he may not have information we are looking for that will help us find answers.

You probably noticed that for the past month we took a step back from the investigation. During that time we have been working on a new strategy that will hopefully help us get closer to an answer. Our idea now is to take our search to the water. We have not been able to confirm whether the missing people actually reached the shore and boarded a boat. But, if they did, we think we have enough information now to narrow down an area where the boat could have gone missing without being noticed. So, the plan is to use the data and reporting we have to establish a search area. We will then turn our efforts to examining that search area using digital material, such as satellite photographs, to see if we can find evidence of the Ghost Boat.

The strategy, in some ways, may seem like a long shot. But, I think it says something about how difficult this investigation is that this might be our best chance of uncovering some concrete evidence about what happened to your loved ones.

At the same time, we will continue working with our reporter on the ground in Libya to try to uncover information there as well. And, if Measho ends up providing useful information, we will incorporate that into our search as well. For now, we would like you to know that we remain committed to the investigation. And, we are still hoping to provide answers and end your waiting. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to get in touch with me or Bobbie. Your feedback and stories are our motivation for continuing this project.

All the best, Eric Reidy