‘It’s a road that leads to hell,’ say migrants

Italy yesterday launched an internet, TV, and radio campaign to discourage Africans from setting out on the often deadly voyage to Europe, including migrants telling their often harrowing stories.

In one of the clips posted on YouTube, Facebook, and the awaremigrants.org website, Cesar says he almost died of exposure at sea after his boat drifted for three days, while in another, Jessica tells of how she only just escaped an anal rape attack.

“It’s a road that leads to hell,” Tschamba says in another of the 80 videos.

When he refused to board a boat with his wife and child, a Libyan smuggler said he would kill him and dump his body in the desert .

Unable to protect his family from danger, “I held my baby and I cried and I cried and I cried.”

Italy remains on the front line of a migrant influx, with more than 400,000 migrants arriving by boat since the beginning of 2014.

The majority come from Africa, and many, 60% last year, do not qualify for refugee status.

Italy’s Interior Ministry funded and developed, with help from the International Organisation for Migration, the “Aware Migrants” campaign to convince migrants to stay home as both the number of arrivals and deaths climb.