I Am Not Afraid Of Water, Death -Nigerian Migrant

A Nigerian female migrant, identified as Vitoria, who was among the over 100 migrants rescued last week  by Medecin Sans Frontieres and SOS Méditerranee chartered Aquarius ship, has told newsmen why she decided to risk the perilous crossing from Libya into Italy.

“I was not afraid of the water, because God created the water. I’m not afraid of death. We all die one day. I’m more afraid if the Libyan police were to catch me again, because they are so wicked,” the 21 year-old Nigerian said.

Vitoria was in the the group of migrants  to arrive at Sicilian city Catania on Thursday, which included six women, 32 teenagers and six children. It could not be ascertained the number of other Nigerians in the group.


She  told the AFP that she had been in Libya for just over a year before setting off last weekend.

She said that she had spent nearly six months in dreadful conditions in a Libyan prison after a failed first crossing last year. The country’s notorious detention centres have been blasted by human rights groups and the United Nations as “inhuman.”

Vitoria was one of those who had been on the Aquarius rescue ship, chartered by SOS Méditerranee and Medecins Sans Frontieres, since Monday night, after being saved on Sunday by a smaller boat — the Astral — run by a Spanish NGO following a call from the Italian coastguard.