Where did the Ghost Boat travel from?
Notes From The Field
Some of you (Hi, dangersquirrel) have wondered why there’s conflicting information about the Ghost Boat’s point of departure. Was it Zuwarah? Was it somewhere else? We’ve been talking to family members, and they have not cleared up the confusion. So Gianni put that question to the Italian prosecutor who’s working the case against the smuggling ring run by Ibrahim (who we met in episode 2).
Here’s what he found out:
Ibrahim was sending boats from both “the Tripoli zone” and Zuwarah. The prosecutors haven’t been able to figure out which of the 23 journeys left from which location. Apparently, all of the refugees were kept at a farm outside Tripoli, exact location unknown. From there, they were sent either to Zuwarah or Tripoli.
We’re planning to get boots on the ground in Zuwarah soon to dig into whether the Ghost Boat passengers were ever actually there — and where they might have left from. Meanwhile, Meron is working to find other refugees smuggled by the Toklha group to see what information they may have.
This Just In
If you’re confused by the array of acronyms in the boat tracking data, Kirk Pettinga put together a helpful cheat sheet. Ross Whiteford also explains how to use the database to identify ship types. We’re still looking for ideas d still love to hear your thoughts about how we might approach the data, especially if you have GIS, mapping, or maritime experience. (Some ideas we’re considering: Looking for vessels that could have intersected with the Ghost Boat; looking for blind spots where a fishing boat could have remained undetected; cross-referencing movements with satellite photography.)
Recommended Reading
If you want to get a better idea of why Eritreans like Segen and Yafet decide that escape is better than staying, then the Wall Street Journal takes a look at what’s at stake for those who try to leave the country:
Shewit Hadera, a 25-year-old refugee who works with unaccompanied Eritrean children in the care of the Norwegian Refugee Council, carries physical and emotional scars. Imprisoned in 2008 for trying to flee, he said, he was regularly tortured. He showed a leg covered in scar tissue he said was from being burned with boiling tea.
Devastating, but worth the read.
Morsels
Yoz Grahame found some relevant-looking articles from Tunisian Press Agency and Libyan Herald, but they’re behind a paywall. He’s wondering if someone with a subscription can help him figure out what they say. Anyone?
If you tune into the BBC World Service’s Newsday program tomorrow, you can hear Eric talking about Ghost Boat and the discoveries in Tunisia.
Onward.
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