Posted on 01/11/2008 7:35:03 PM PST by forkinsocket
(AGI) - Agrigento, 11th January - The captain of an Italian fishing boat, Mariano Ruggiero, 46, has been taken into custody by the Carabinieri at Lampedusa (Agrigento) on the charge of murdering an illegal migrant. According to reports obtained last night, in the offshore waters around fifty miles south of the Pelagius Isles, a dinghy with around 60 migrants on board which was making the crossing from North Africa, crossed courses with an Italian fishing boat. One immigrant, probably of Somali origin, dived into the water and managed to reach the fishing boat, but the captain of the craft prevented him from staying on board, throwing him back into the sea. The event was reported by the other immigrants on their arrival at Lampedusa's reception centre. Following this, the fisher boat in question also docked at Lampedusa and inquiries were immediately underway on the part of the Carabinieri, who gathered statement from other crew members to clarify the incident. Mariano Ruggiero was placed on board the boat that connects Lampedusa with Porto Empedocle and will be held in Petrusa country prison awaiting further prosecution of the case. A search for the body of the migrant is now taking place, with vessels belonging to Italy's Coast Guard, Navy, and Customs Police on the scene.
(Excerpt) Read more at agi.it ...
I'm frankly having trouble processing the idea that a supposed fellow human being could type that without sarcasm.
Would you really refuse to help a dying man? Just because you don't like the place he comes from?
Really?
You’re assuming the captain intended him to drown. The invader came out of the sea, one presumes he can swim back to where he came from originally.
Haven’t spent much time at sea, I suppose.
Throwing a man into the water and preventing him from a handhold on your boat is murder.
Would I allow someone to board my boat out in the middle of nowhere? Maybe. It would depend on the circumstances. We don't have all the facts here. Something happened after he boarded. Not everyone is harmless.
Anyway, my comment was regarding the charges. Did the captain mean for him to drown or go back to his raft? The guy sailed out on a raft, jumped(?) off, and boarded someone else's boat. There are personal responsibility issues here too.
Fine.
But consider this: how did a boatload of Somali’s (Somalia is on the east coast of Africa) get all the way to the coast of Italy? Somalia, just in case you are unaware of this fact, is the origin for most acts of piracy in the Indian Ocean. And, oh yeah, they are renowned for slitting the throats of all victims on board before disembarking.
You want to be a good Samaritan in a situation like this, that is your loss.
Maybe a little off topic but that’s an interesting thought. Most of us would probably try to rescue if we saw someone out in the ocean on a raft. A pirate could probably get really close that way though.
I know all about Somali pirates.
I also think I’m done here. Maybe this will make more sense to you when you sober up.
Good night.
He murdered that guy.
Would you have approved if he had shot him while floating in the water?
How about if he smashed his head open with an ax?
I am totally against any more immigration into the US, and think we should seal the borders, etc., but I sure as heck don’t believe we should start murdering everyone who tries to sneak into a country...
Ed
I believe it should be left up to the court to decide this one. We weren’t there.
“This is ridiculous. They are not migrants. The are foreign nationals attempting illegal entry into Europe. And the captain of a vessel has the right to force off his vessel any invaders or pirates.”
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I think there is a “generally accepted Law of the Sea” and it will probably absolve this skipper of any blame - it should.
Maybe I’m missing something here. I even went back and read the article again. The guy swam to captain’s boat. Whether he was a bad Samaritan or not, how could the captain know he wouldn’t swim back to the other boat? If he knocked him unconcious or something then yeah but to charge someone with murder for kicking them off your property....I don’t know much about boats and I guess I just don’t understand this boat code.
Not is he has left his own perfectly good boat to board yours. One of the favored tactics of Somalian pirates is to pretend to be a disabled vessel. When a rescuer comes up, he is boarded. overwhelmed, and captured.
The captain's first duty is to his own crew.
If I were to encounter a boatload of people who started swimming to my own boat with the clear intention of boarding, why shouldn't I shoot them before they got to my boat, which would be self-defense, not murder.
If only one swims over, he may be probing to see what happens. Let him aboard and there may be 50 more right behind him.
I would never trust the intentions of an overcrowded boat full of men claiming to be refugees. Unless they are visibly sinking, the correct course of action is to notify the local Navy or Coast Guard and repel boarders as necessary.
I don’t disagree with what you have posted. As for your “collective” insult, get your head out of your own ass.
You think incorrectly. If anything, what the captain is alleged to have done cuts against the very grain of the "Law of the Sea." His actions (if true) are a slap in the face of mariners everywhere.
The difference is fifty miles of open ocean.
But I toowould not allow anyone not invited on my boat cept a pain in the rear water cop or coast guard type.
And even then I’d be pretty mad about the boarding.
I waited a long time to post my comment. When I first read the thread there were only a few posts. By the time I decided what I wanted to say the thread had advanced. The whole time I was in the composing window debating with myself as to weather it was worth objecting to the initial sentiment expressed by the first few posters. I was hesitant to comment since I’ve been chewed-out before for arguing the basic humanity of immigrants in the past.
“The generally accepted law of the sea is that abandoning somebody in the sea is homicide.”
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He jumped out of one boat because he preferred another boat that he was never invited to join. He could have swum back to the other boat. There is no homicide involved.
“You think incorrectly. If anything, what the captain is alleged to have done cuts against the very grain of the “Law of the Sea.” His actions (if true) are a slap in the face of mariners everywhere.”
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I spent four years in the US Navy. By your reckoning, any buccaneer boarding a ship without permission should be welcomed - I reject your argument.
You’ve obviously never served.
Even a life preserver would have sufficed. Feel free to reject my argument, but don't expect to appear on a thread to write, "I think there is a 'generally accepted Law of the Sea' and it will probably absolve this skipper of any blame - it should," without being corrected.
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*Meaning that, in order to satisfy the "unwritten" part.
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