What was one of the greatest humanitarian disasters ever?

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Answered by 

Alessandro13

 

Mar 20

What was one of the greatest humanitarian disasters ever?

The landing of the Vlora in Bari, Italy, 8 August 1991.

The Vlora vessel (flying the Albanian flag, 147 meters long and 19 meters wide, used for the trade of cane sugar) was returning from an export trip to Cuba when, upon returning to the port of Durazzo, in Albania, it was kidnapped by 20 thousand Albanian fugitives , who fled towards Italy after the fall of the communist regime in the small Balkan state.

The mass emigration of Albanian refugees to Italy had already started a few months earlier, and had involved the ports of Brindisi and Trani.

This time, however, the situation was different: the scorching heat , the disastrous health conditions and the very little space available on the boat (compared to the many passengers present, 20 thousand) made the rescue operations very complicated .

The Municipality of Bari first used a large quay on the port as support ; then, however, the authorities, realizing the human rabble that - little by little - was coming out of the boat, decided to transport all the refugees inside the municipal stadium, failing however to place tarpaulins where those poor people could have found shelter : the result was a series of fainting spells and fainting spells due to dehydration and sunstroke .

The affair ended with a forced repatriation for those who were in better health conditions, while the weakest groups were held in Italy to provide adequate medical treatment.