The world has witnessed many deaths as the migrants drown in the Mediterranean when they flee to the Greece. The Turkish government recently signed a deal with the EU where any such migrants to the Greece will be deported back to Turkey.
When this loophole was plugged, the other one opened up where the Turkish smugglers placed ads on the Facebook promising that the migrants could reach Italy instead of Greece.
But at what cost?
The advertisement revealed that the cost per person from the Turkish port of Mersin to reach Italy is US $4000, which is four times the cost from Turkey to Greece.
“The trip is on Saturday, from Mersin to Italy, on a merchant ship 110 metres long, equipped with food, water, life jackets and medicine,” the post on Facebook read, accompanied by photographs of a cargo ship. At this moment, the smugglers removed the advertisement and the Facebook team is working hard to pin down the origin of the advertisement.
This clearly reveals that not only the climate patterns may shift but also migrant pattern can shift. With the migrants facing a harder challenge to leave Turkey, there are new businesses blossoming where all attempts are being made to find a place of refuge in other countries.
According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Italian officials are predicting that the number of people landing in Italy could reach 270,000 this year – significantly higher than the 150,000 in 2015, and the 170,000 in 2014.
Source: Reuters
