this is bbc news. their headlines and all the news will be at the top of the hour, straight out of this programme. every year, thousands of migrants try to make their way to europe. as they leave their homelands behind them, the possessions they take with them give us a sense of who they are. remnants of a painful past or glimpses or a more hopeful future. some dedicated people on the italian island of lampedusa have saved some of those items. where are these people? where are they?

i'm here to see if i can trace just one person through one of these lost objects and shed new life on this dangerous journey taken by so many. my name is thomas naadi and i'm a bbc correspondent. i'm based in ghana, my country, but my journey starts here in lampedusa. this has long been an arrival spot for refugees seeking better opportunities in europe. i'm here to meet one of the founders of a collective set up for objects lost by those travelling on this route. i'm hoping to use one of these objects as a lens for looking closer into

the migrant�*s story. indicative of so many, traced through a single object lost with along the way. giacomo shows me some of the objects closest to his heart. giacomo found most of these down and lampedusa,

where for years, the authorities received.

it's a slightly strange feeling to be standing here on this island in the footprints of so many. looking at all those objects, i could just imagine the pain, the sacrifice and the strength needed to make this journey. a pain that feels in so many ways familiar. i come from the northern part of the country. we lived there for a while, and in 1994, there were ethnic conflicts, so we were internally displaced. everything happened very quickly. we couldn't pick any of our possessions, we lost everything, we ended up in a displacement camp. so, when i saw that some of the migrants took with them samples of soil of their homelands, i can very much relate to that. i know how it feels to lose

your home and to be far away from home. coming here, i realised the impossibility of finding people through these samples of soil, so i asked giacomo if there is anything more tangible i can use. he picks out a folder overflowing with documents, photos, personal address books, and i get a vast sense of excitement. egyptian passport? si. 0h, nigeria! let me take a picture of this. republic of guinea? let me take a shot of this. oh, that's a lovely picture of three guys, looking very fashionable. he laughs oh, wow!

that's a ghanaian driver's licence. let me take a picture of this. ghanaian passport? many people. so, where are these people? where are they? sometimes, the first people migrants encounter when crossing the mediterranean sea of the local fishermen. this man was a fishing outside the 12 mile radius that he was allowed to fish in, as so many do in order to make a living. when he came across a migrant boat taking on water. he saved 3a people by alerting the officials, even though he knew he may face legal consequences.

many making the journey are not so lucky. people have crossed to the mediterranean in all directions for thousands of years, but recently, this story has been one of tragedy. one of the worst disasters happen on october the 3rd, 2013, when a boat sank after catching fire half a mile off the coast of lampedusa. 368 of the migrants on board were killed.

the magnitude of the disaster shocked italy and sent reports around the world. now, every year, people come to lampedusa to remember those lost. this woman was 18 when she survived the disaster. like most on board, she had fled eritrea.

with more than 20,000 recorded deaths and disappearances since 2014, this stretch of sea is the deadliest migration route in the world. as i look out onto these waters, the reality that it is a graveyard for thousands of people, really hits me hard.

this man as part of a local volunteer group that looks after the graves of migrants buried here on the island. only a handful are identified.

this is heartbreaking. he tells me that lampedusa forces people to take sides. you either stand with humanity or you turn your back on it — something that goes beyond this tiny island on the front line of the global story of migration.

my time in lampedusa is drawing to a close. along with the memories i made on this trip, i'm taking home countless photos of documents, and giacomo has also given me permission to take a few key documents. back in my home city, the office. look at this passport i found. i need to take a closer look.

picture doesn't really give you much. did he make it, did he not make it? republic of ghana driver licence. i remember i got some books of a lot of contacts from different parts of west africa. wow. it's not going to be easy, but at least we have some documents to work with. i don't want to imagine a situation where i'm not able to find anything. i don't even want to think about it. and so, we begin. i write to the driver's license authority and passport office to see if they can help with two ghanaian documents i have. i sent a letter in america to a bbc colleague in case the translation reveals any names, numbers or addresses. and i begin ploughing

through the simple thing endless list of address books in phone book. sorry, the number you dialled is incorrect. let me try... phone rings. it's going through. oh, god! he laughs. please check the number and dialagain. thank you. this is very difficult. i knew this wasn't going to be easy, but i didn't know it will be this difficult. it's now a waiting game. let's hope something comes back from all the leads i'm chasing. in the meantime, i'm travelling to central ghana. a particularly high number of people migrate from this region.

i'm meeting with ghanaians who have at one point left the country, but have now returned home. this group has come together to raise awareness around the dangers of the journey to europe, discouraging young people from following their footsteps. the members support each other financially and,

more importantly, emotionally. like most of the members of the association we'vejust met, this man has travelled to libya in the hope of improving the life of his family, but unfortunately things did not go as planned.

myjourney has taken several months and had a toll on me, but is nothing compared to what others have been through. whether to grieve or move on with your life is something that i cannotjust begin to imagine. back in accra, i've heard a response about one of the documents i enquired about — the ghanian driver's licence.

"we are constrained by the details of the detail protection act." dead end. i was hoping to get some useful information i can work with, but it appears this leads me nowhere. my hopes rise again when i receive a translation of the american letter. "the person handed food and clothes to their brothers..." another part describes how his friend daniel arrived for the first time in the town, and that's where more were found.

some of them lost their smuggling fees and others were simply waiting to cross. it's so powerful to get a glimpse into someone�*s experience through their own words, but unfortunately, my hopes are yet again short—lived. i'm back to the beginning again. i have to look into other documents, because no address, no contact numbers — nothing. so i have nothing to work with. and then one day, i get a call from the document fraud expertise centre of the ghana immigration service. i was referred to him by the passport office. he and his team are experts when it comes to investigating documents. i've literally been harassing him. i've called him every day, sometimes early in the morning

and if he's not responded, ijust show us his office. he will tell me, "thomas, just relax." the only thing you told me over the phone is that he got the news about the driver licence i sent him. thank you very much. hello, good afternoon, sir. welcome, thomas. thank you. i was running away from you! laughter. tell me you have some good news for me. of course, of course. now that i have actually called do you know that i have good news for you. we've been able to establish a link on the name. that's the good news for you, my brother. you know, when we applied to the drivers licence, we applied to the dvle but we got information but unfortunately, the information only has to do with the address of the applicant. even i know the addresses is still in ghana.

if you look at the place, it's a whole task on its own. that was when you are calling me. i could not take your call any more because we thought we had hit a dead end. then, the next line of action was to take the name and run it through our system in the airport to see information on him. that was difficult because you are the only person or he's not the only person with that name in ghana. after browsing between driver's licence and passport databases, he managed to access the phone numberfor a relative of the driver's licence holder. we were only hoping for this breakthrough, and it did happen. thank you very much. i was able to put down few details for you prior to your arrival here. i don't know which one will be useful to you — i believe the number will be very useful. i need everything!

i can't wait to have it! yes, thank you so much. oh, my god. thank you very much. all right. this is the moment i have been waiting for — a number, a tangible connection. after a brief phone call, i can't believe i'm on my way to germany to meet the owner of the drivers licence giacomo showed me in lampedusa many months ago. hello, richard? good morning. guten morgen, mr thomas. i'm in front of your house. i can't wait to meet you. be with you shortly. all right. here we are, welcome home. thank you. thank you very much. like many from west africa, richard travelled to europe via libya. the journey is very rough. it took me, let's see,

two years from ghana and nigeria. nigeria and back to cotonou. from niger to chad, chad to libya. it is hell. but there's no hope at home, so you just continue. sometimes you meet a group, the whole 30, 35 passengers, with the driver, the car is dead and they are all dead. driver only has the right to use the water because they use it to put inside the car. some killed the passengers for your own water to drink. when richard finally arrived in libya, he was kidnapped for ransom.

she doesn't have money. it is easier for you to call your family to send money or your dad. yeah. richard eventually made it to tripoli and then in 2011 when gadarfi's regime fell, he decided to attempt crossing. when you finally got in lampedusa, you finally arrived, what was that feeling like? for you? i was so weak, very, very weak, but i was... "finally, i have seen light." richard, i got something to show you. wow. can i have it? yeah. quietly: wow. so grateful to have it back. wow, thank you very much. how many years? 2014? yes. it's expired! laughter.

it's expired, my brother! richard found his way from lampedusa to bremen, germany, where he now works as a forklift truck driver. now that you are in europe, is that what you imagined or hoped for? when i was in africa, i thought europe, things are easy. you get money easy. but it's not like that — you have to work hard. but at home, there was no plan for me to leave my house or to survive so, i would say i'm grateful to be here. i've been looking for one person, one story, and i will never forget finding richard and learning about his challenging journey. like all of us, he has simply been searching for a better life. but it was through the search itself, through the many incredible people that i've met and spoken with, that i really came to a new understanding of the reality

faced by migrants today. richard's story, like every migrant�*s story, is a story of risk, a story of hope. hello there. at this time of year, with light winds and a little bit of shelter, you can just start to feel the strength of the sunshine, but clear skies overnight can still lead to substantial frost. we have —6 celsius in parts of oxfordshire first thing on tuesday morning. lots of blue sky and sunshine stayed all day, and in kew gardens by the middle of the afternoon, 15 celsius was the high — very nice indeed. the story is changing, though,

and it's because of these frontal systems that are pushing in from the north—west. the clearest of the skies over the next few hours will be in the south—east corner here. touch of light frost possible, but with outbreaks of rain developing and more cloud around, it is going to be a much milder start to the day. but there will be some wet weather around, moving its way out of scotland, pushing into northern england and across wales. showery rain to begin with, but another batch of wet weather will start to move in by the middle part of the afternoon. so, clouding over, but it should stay dry in east anglia for much of the day. highs here of 13 degrees. there'll be some showery outbreaks of rain and some heavier bursts pushing into wales and north—west england. a brighter afternoon, though, to close out the day in northern ireland and western scotland as the weather fronts start to drift their way steadily eastwards. still staying relatively mild for the time of year, that rain still has to clear away eastwards, and as it does so, well, we'll see clearer skies and temperatures will be a little bit lower out to the west by thursday morning. but thursday morning,

we'll see that rain easing away, and then a little ridge of high pressure will slowly start to build in from the west and quieten things down. so, yes, a cloudy, grey start across eastern areas, a few scattered showers remaining as we go through the day, but an improving picture. there will be some sunshine coming through. there will be some light winds still coming from a northwesterly direction on thursday, so that will make it feeljust that little bit fresher. temperatures are likely to peak between 8—13 celsius. now, as we move out of thursday into the start of the long easter weekend, high pressure is set to build in, for a couple of days at least. these weather fronts trying to push in from the atlantic, but they will take their time in doing so. so, not a bad start to the easter weekend — dry, settled and sunny before the risk of some rain arrives slowly but surely for easter sunday afternoon. take care.

live from washington, this is bbc news. welcome to viewers on pbs in america. tonight, we hearfrom donald trump for the first time since he pleaded not guilty to charges in new york. the only crime that i have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it. the former president is facing 34 felony criminal charges relating to falsified business records. hello. i'm sumi somaskanda. we start tonight in florida. just a few hours ago, donald trump spoke publicly for the first time —

after becoming the first former