Why Don't They Come To Europe By Plane?

[Hypognosis]

One of the survivors of the Lampedusa boat sinking tragedy told a TV reporter that he'd paid $5000 for his boat trip.

Surely, this is a ludicrous claim as the air fare from Libya* can't be that steep?

Or am I missing something ultra-obvious here?

What are your thoughts?

What else can we do to stop the poor blighters from drowning by the hundreds? Send physics teachers to African ports, to run demonstrations of what happens to a boat when all the passengers run to the same side at once, perhaps?

(*) or other North African country if the Libyan airline went down the tubes amid the chaos.

[Frank97]

I was surprised to learn that a friend of mine had paid over £1000 to come here from Bulgaria, when I told him that a plane ticket didn't cost anywhere near that, he said that the price included a job picking mushrooms, so I can quite believe that these people were charge $5000.

[DrFilth]

they don't need a visa to get in the boat

[Gromit]

They need a Visa to enter Europe and they are not going to be granted one. No airline will accept a passenger without a Visa. Anyone flying in plane loads of illegal immigrants would have their plane confiscated, which would be worth more than they could make from a one way journey full of peasants.

I am guessing that when they fork out the money, they are not aware that their transport will be dangerously overloaded. If they don't get on the boat, they have lost their life savings for nothing, so they take the risk.

There have been a couple of well publicised accidents, but I most illegal crossings are successful.

[dzug2]

Without a UK visa they would not be allowed to board a plane in Libya - and if they did manage it would be sent straight back on arrival.

[Mosaic]

You may be missing a few points. In many countries (Egypt being one I knwo of from experience), applying for a passport is difficult - you can't even as a citizen simply expect that a passport will be issued to you on application.

Even if you get through the necessary paperwork and bribery, it is very expensive even by western standards. bearing in mind people earn a pittance by our standards.

And many of the people trying to get in via Lampedusa have started their trek elsewhere, say Somalia, paying gangs to get them through borders.

The gangs are notorious for cramming them onto unseaworthy vessels then the 'crew' abandoning them once out to sea.

[DrFilth]

and some that are not successful no one will ever hear about

[mikey4444]

As others have said, nothing ludicrous at all. These are people that can't get into Europe any other way. I would have thought it was obvious why they risk life and limb crossing in tiny boats.

There was a story on the news this morning about a chap that managed to save his baby girl when he was stuck in the water, by holding its head up as far as he could, but his little boy drowned in front of him. A truly tragic outcome.

The divers looking for bodies in the accident earlier this week have found the remains of just born babies among the wreckage. Shocking.

[Hypognosis]

Thanks for all your replies.

As you can tell, I'm not one for reading the papers and it just goes to show how superficial the TV news coverage has become that such matters have to be glossed over in order to reduce the feature to a specific length.

So, this business of visas not being issued any more is clearly to blame for the ongoing tragedies.

Not that a sudden switch to issuing visas again will fix the problem straight away, if it's taking some of them upwards of six months to trek across the continent.

What I am thinking is that it would surely be worth the expense of attempting some kind of poster campaign all along the North African coast to warn of the dangers. If they are refugees fleeing certain death in their home country, they'll not be scared quite so easily but at least the fortune-seekers might think twice before stepping on the boat.

Or (@Gromit) are you saying that the people smugglers take their money early on in the process, back in their home country? If that's the case then the publicity campaign needs to be run there. Totally impractical idea if it's somewhere as unstable as Somalia we're talking about. :(

[Prudie]

This hit the news and has enlightened many people but in fact these boat trips across the Med have been going on for years. Presumably lots actually make it. Coincidentally I was looking at Lampedusa as a holiday destination a couple of years ago (having found it by chance playing on google satellite view). Even then the blurb referred to the fact the island had long been a landing spot for illegal immigrants from N Africa.

[Hypognosis]

I've been aware of the boat disasters for some years. One of the more memorable ones involved a group of survivors clinging onto some fish-farm type equipment, well out of sight of land. There was some level of scandal about the apparent reluctance of the coastguards to approach and get them to safety.

As for Lampedusa as a holiday destination, last I hear, the mayor was complaining that the graveyards were full and the hospitals were strained to breaking point with treating casualties. Not the place to risk falling ill while on holiday.

[Gromit]

Hypnosis

It is not a case of Visas not being issued anymore. They have never been issued. It has always been difficult to come here (the UK).

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// It has always been difficult to come here (the UK). ///

Then why is it that we have so many illegal immigrants, and they are the ones we know about?

[Zacs-Master]

I don't think you've thought that one thru AOG. Gromit means it's difficult to come here legally, hence why we have so many illegals as they have no chance if they go thru the proper Channels.

[anotheoldgit]

Perhaps such countries as Italy should increase their coastguard surveillance, this is smuggling after all, but in human beings in these cases?

[boxtops]

they're illegal, AOG, just that, they don't have visas or any sort of permits - that's why they're in the back of lorries, or hanging off Eurotunnel trains.

[anotheoldgit]

Zacs-Master

Sorry if you misunderstood but that was meant as a sarcastic comment, pity there is no way of flagging such remarks as being so.

[Zacs-Master]

Yeah right.

[anotheoldgit]

boxtops

Or even boats it would seem.

[boxtops]

This boat trip by would-be immigrants is no different to the dangerous attempts from the West Coast of Africa to the Canary Islands - happens all the time, people trying to get to Europe. The Canaries feed 'em, check their health then send 'em back.

[Hypognosis]

To denote sarcasm on the interwebs, it is common practice to add a wink ;-)
or, for cheekyness, a tongue sticking out, thus :-P

simples!