Helpless Victims

In a "get rich quick" scheme many would-be entrepreneurs are hiring old clapped-out boats renting them out to desperate would-be immigrants and then abandoning them crewless at sea. 'Italian authorities have taken control of a ship carrying 450 migrants, thought to be Syrian, that was abandoned by its crew off Italy coast. The Italian coast guard said it was now heading to the port of Crotone after a rescue team managed to board the ship. The Ezadeen, sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, lost power in rough seas overnight off the south-east of Italy. Almost 1,000 migrants were rescued from another ship found abandoned without any crew earlier in the week.' (BBC News, 2nd January) Little thought is given to the scared, exploited and often  terrified victims, but then it never does inside capitalism. RD