Morbidly Profitable
The true extent of evil taxes normal peoples' imaginations. That there are among us human beings, true psychopaths, who harbour no regard, feel not the merest twinge of responsibility for the well-being of others is difficult to digest. All the more difficult to understand when people are deliberately placed in harm's way through the machinations of others standing to gain profit through inspiring trust in their goodwill, then to increase profit, leaving them adrift and helpless in the sea of life.We can be a little more specific than that. We can speak of individuals who permit their services to be enlisted as practical aids to people fleeing situations of hardship in the hope that they can gain entry to other countries with more advanced economies. Take the case most recently of 56 Africans who perished while attempting to reach a port of hope in Spain. Their boat had been outfitted by a source handsomely paid for the service, but which turned out, in the end, to be a false expectation of misplaced trust.
These people, fleeing from the west coast of Africa, attempting to reach the Canary Islands where they hoped that Spain would somehow come to their rescue, had the great misfortune to have been bilked of their disposable funds as well as their lives through the heinous calculations of unscrupulous profiteers knowing full well that their plan to cheat the refugees of the paid-for items would result in their deaths.
Does any language have words sufficient to describe the anti-human outrage so casually dispensed by such people?
One man alone survived, but barely, in the frail vessel half-sunk south of Cape Verde, 21 days after the group had set out for their destination and what they fervently hoped would be their new lives in another part of the world that promised them salvation from the dire straits they lived with. They went in search of employment and a better life. Setting out from Mauritania with paid-for provisions of water, rice and fuel, their venture must have seemed more than possible to result in success.
But by the fourth day of the journey the first of their fuel was used, and they turned to the remaining fuel cans. Only to discover that instead of holding the fuel they had paid so dearly for, what they had was another fluid entirely; water. They were located, at that point, some 157 kilometres from the Canaries, and the people on board began to panic and despair, to shout and to weep and pray.
The humanity-packed little vessel of would-be refugees represented the hopes of 28 Guineans, 20 Malians and three Senegalese. Once the food began to run out on their now-aimless journey, the arguments and the fights began. Some people took to throwing other, sleeping people over the side; others, observing passively, did nothing. And the boat continued to drift. Their destination receding further and further.
Others died of starvation, their bodies consigned by the survivors at that point, to the deep. Some, in utter despair, threw themselves into the ocean, while others simply expired in their sleeping state. Without fuel, directionless, the boat drifted 2,000 kilometres south of the Canaries, some 1,000 kilometres from their starting point.
Senegalese police have launched an investigation. European countries have no wish to welcome the desperate refugees fleeing in their illegal, migrant craft. Had they been successful in their attempt, and had the boat been intercepted, they would have been repatriated, turned back to the country of origin.
Their adventure a failure, but their lives not forfeit.
Labels: Heroes and Villains, Human Fallibility, World News
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, October 31, 2007
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