Indifference to drowned girls causes shock

NAPLES, Italy, July 21 (UPI) -- Italian opinion leaders said Monday they were outraged by the indifferent attitude displayed by beach-goers to the nearby dead bodies of two Gypsy girls.

The girls, ages 14 and 16, drowned Saturday while swimming at the beach at Torregaveta, Italy, west of Naples, and had been laid out in the sand by police, covered with a sheet. Photos published Sunday, however, showed sunbathers within yards of the bodies carrying on as normal and apparently taking no notice of them, CNN reported.

The seeming indifference shocked the Catholic archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Crecenzio Seppe, who wrote in his blog, "Indifference is not an emotion for human beings," while Italian civil liberties group EveryOne said the incident revealed "racism and horror."

The incident came as tensions between Italian authorities and the country's Gypsy minorities were heightened by a government crackdown targeting illegal immigrants.