26 migrants who drowned at sea buried in Italy — but ‘no Nigerian official present’

Twenty-six Nigerian women who died while trying to cross the Mediterranean sea were buried on Friday in Italy.

BBC had reported that majority of the victims were teenagers, with some as young as 14 years old.

Their corpses were found on a Spanish warship — Cantabria — which was also carrying hundreds of other migrants, including other Nigerian survivors.

The funeral was held in Salerno where a Roman Catholic bishop and a Muslim imam said prayers.

A single white rose was placed on the lid of each coffin.

Trisha Thomas, a reporter with Associated Press, said she did not see any representative or official from Nigeria at the ceremony.

In response to those who asked, I did not see any official Nigerian representative at the ceremony today for 26 women pic.twitter.com/mQGpdTdx6Q

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— Trisha Thomas (@TrishaThomasAP) November 17, 2017

“There were Nigerian women there who suffered through terrible journeys to reach Italy. Many gently touched the coffins,” she said.

On the reported lack of Nigerian representation at the funeral, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, senior special adviser to the president on foreign affairs and diaspora, said the matter will be thoroughly investigated.

Will be thoroughly investigated https://t.co/TFO3Gm4ZuW

— world (@s2_vpd) November 17, 2017

Dabiri said the ministry of foreign affairs will look into the matter and that the report will be submitted at the next federal executive council meeting.

“There was immediate response from my office and later from the MFA spokesman. At the next FEC meeting, it was taken up at the highest level to come up with drastic solution, holistic recommendations,” she tweeted.

“I will expect an embassy official to be there. Hopefully, they were informed of time and venue.

“It will be judiciously handled by @GeoffreyOnyeama MFA. The MFA investigating the claims. Hon Min @GeoffreyOnyeama has asked that it should be looked into.

“All points noted. A high powered body set up to look into this issue and report to FEC in a week.

“I hope the mission in Italy was duly informed of time, date and venue. If true, this has to be looked into. FEC , as the highest decision-making body, is taking this up cos of its utmost seriousness. Two different matters here.

“The report will be submitted by the AGF next Wednesday. We need drastic measures indeed.”

The report will be submitted by the AGF next Wednesday . We need drastic measures indeed https://t.co/mnO2BORJsI

— world (@s2_vpd) November 17, 2017

Among the survivors were 52 children and 90 women, eight of whom are said to be pregnant.

“It is very likely that these girls were victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation,” said Federico Soda, director, UN migration agency International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for the Mediterranean.

According to L’Abbraccio, an Italian aid group, each migrant is charged about $6,000 (£4,578) to get to Italy by people-smuggling gangs.