PHOTO ESSAY: African migrants
make desperate attempt
to escape Italian detention
Published in
3 min readApr 15, 2015
After being intercepted at sea, a group of nearly 50 Somali and Eritrean migrants made a daring attempt to avoid detention.
Photos by Andrea Spinelli (Demotix)
In Pordenone, Italy, a group of Somali and Eritrean refugees were awaiting processing. They’d just attempted the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean. Fleeing the chaos and instability of their homelands, the Somalis and Eritreans made their way to North Africa, then departed for Italy by sea. En route, they were intercepted by the Italian Coast Guard.
Now in Italian custody, their future is in limbo, since only a fraction of those who make the journey are granted asylum. For now, they waited as authorities attempted to identify each one of them.
Eventually, the authorities prepared to transfer them.
A handful of refugees then began to break away and make a run for it.
For some of them, their freedom was extraordinarily brief.
Several dozen others, meanwhile, managed to jump the barriers successfully.
Initially, authorities were overwhelmed as the refugees attempted their escape.
In the end it was all for naught. Of the 47 refugees who attempted to flee the authorities, 46 of them were quickly recaptured.
Back in custody, they were brought to a police station for questioning, their futures once again an open question.
