Asmara has become a city of wailing and sorrow

Asmara has become a city of wailing and sorrow

(Asmara 08/10/2013) Members of the Freedom Friday Movement have confirmed that many people in the capital are hearing of the fate of their loved ones caught up in last Thursday’s boat accident off the cost of Lampadusa in Italy.

The accident which is said to be the biggest accident on the Mediterranean to date claimed the lives of hundreds of Eritreans who were part of a group of about 500 on a boat making a clandestine journey to the Italian island.

So far 155 survivors and 232 bodies including 4 children have been recovered to date. The search for more bodies is on-going.

Members of the Movement reported that the situation in Asmara is very sad and although there isn’t any official announcements people are finding about the fate of their loved ones through their own networks and holding private memorials and many people are visiting each other to comfort those bereaved.

One member of the team recounted his experience by saying: ‘I have already visited six families, everyone is distraught, even the families of the survivors are in shock, these are very dark times indeed’

Another member recounted how for some families it is a multiple loss, ‘one woman we visited has three members of her family missing and presumed dead now, she is simply inconsolable they were very young too’

Meanwhile Freedom Friday, is finalising its preparation to make thousands of calls with messages of condolence and a call for a national mourning Period.

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1. Freedom Friday (Arbi Harnet) is an Eritrean movement that seeks to link the Resistance inside the country to that in the diaspora. Main activities of the movement include, mass telephone calls encouraging members of the Eritrean public to take collective action to protest human and democratic rights violation
2. Please use this link if you want to contribute towards the sending of messages of condolences to the Eritrean public: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=M7M7RM3FQ8MGE&lc=US¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted
3. For further information contact Ms Meron Estefanos This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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