Onlookers allegedly yelled insults and abuse at Pateh Sabally, a 22-year-old Gambian, as he drowned in Grand Canal

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Italian magistrates have launched an investigation after a video was posted online showing an African man drowning in Venice’s Grand Canal as onlookers watched and shouted racial abuse from nearby boats, local media said.

The recording shown on various news websites appeared to pick up some bystanders yelling at the flailing man. “He is stupid. He wants to die,” one person says. Another person allegedly shouts: “Go on, go back home.”

At least three life-rings were thrown into the water near the man, who was named as Pateh Sabally, a 22-year-old Gambian, but he did not appear to reach for them, raising speculation that he wanted to kill himself. No one jumped in to help him.

Police said the incident happened on Sunday.

More than 181,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Italy by boat in 2016, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, an increase of almost 18% on 2015.

Italian media said Sabally had residency papers for Italy.

A taxi driver told local media: “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.”

