African Refugee Drowns In Venice Canal As Bystanders Yell Racist Remarks Instead Of Helping

Italian judges have opened an investigation into the drowning of an African refugee in Venice’s Grand Canal, local media said Wednesday. Pateh Sabally, 22, of Gambia, was laughed at and called names by onlookers as he flailed then drowned in the middle of the canal, the Independent reported.

Instead of jumping in the water to help the stranded man, onlookers watched from nearby boats and filmed him with their phones while spitting out racist and degrading remarks. The video later went viral on the web.

The footage shows the onlookers calling Sabally “stupid” and indicating that he “wants to die” because he failed to grabbed the life preservers that was thrown at him. They’d tossed at least three life preservers into the water at one point.

Onlookers also yelled, “Go on, go back home.”

“Let him die at this point,” a bystander allegedly shouted in the 21-second clip.

Dino Basso, the local head of the Italian Association of Lifeguards, said, “I don’t want to blame anyone but maybe something more could have been done to save him.”

Security cameras at Venice Station showed Sabally sitting on the steps overlooking the Grand Canal 10 minutes before he drowned. Police said the incident happened Sunday.

The refugee was eventually caught by a current and pulled under before police divers arrived on the scene, according to reports.

Sabally had residency papers for Italy and sailed from Africa two years ago. However, he traveled to Switzerland in search of work so that he could be closer to his family in Mexico, Italian media reported. He was sent back to Italy by officials.

“This is despair. I do not know the story of this guy. They have said he is African. Who knows what he’s been through, how many seas and deserts he has crossed? And he came to die in the most beautiful city in the world,” a taxi driver told local media.

Last year, more than 181,000 migrants arrived in Italy by boat, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, which is almost an 18 percent increase compared with 2015.