(ANSA) – CROTONE, MAY 13 – The Excise, Customs and Monopoly Agency has delivered to the Municipality of Crotone the wreck of a boat used by migrants to land on the Italian coasts in order to create a monument dedicated to people who died during the crossings and to testify to the value of hospitality.
The handover ceremony took place, in the presence of the highest institutional authorities, in the maritime station of the port of Crotone. The general manager of the ADM, Marcello Minenna (who ad interim leads the regional management of the Agency) and the mayor of Crotone Vincenzo Voce, accompanied by councilors Gianni Pitingolo and Filly Pollinzi, signed the delivery report.
The wreck delivered is a ten-meter fishing boat called San Nikolaos from which, on March 22, 2020, 14 Kurdish-Iraqi and Kurdish-Iranian migrants landed in Crotone. The boat was seized by the Guardia di Finanza and subsequently entrusted to the Customs Agency.
Thanks to an idea of the #Ioresto association, the artist Massimo Sirelli will transform the wreck into a work of art which will then be positioned at the entrance to the port area on one of the two roundabouts between via Porto Nuovo and via Miscello by Ripe.
“We are returning to civil society something that had been stolen and used in an uncivilized way” said Minenna who then specified the role of the Agency in the management of the wrecks of boats used by migrants: “Thanks to a control room set up two years ago at Ministry roles and responsibilities have been clarified. Once the wrecks have been released from seizure, they go to the Adm, which must provide for the search, recovery and disposal of these vessels. Activities that the Agency, with its engineers and chemists, will carry out methodically to ensure that coasts of this land are protected and enhanced “.
“Crotone is often last in all the rankings but it is certainly first in terms of hospitality – said Voce – this wreck that will be restored to beauty has a particular meaning for those who arrive in our land escaping from terrible places”. (HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
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