'Enormous tragedy': Migrant workers, families killed in a shipwreck off the Italian coast
With wind-tossed seas, a wooden boat struck the reefs and broke apart before dawn on Sunday. Over 60 bodies were found by rescuers, while dozens more, including children, were still missing in the rough waters
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A wooden boat crowded with migrants smashed into rocky reefs and broke apart before dawn on Sunday off the Italian coast, authorities said. Rescuers recovered nearly 60 bodies, and dozens more people were missing in the rough waters. AP
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Officials feared the death toll could top 100 since some survivors indicated the boat had as many as 200 passengers when it set out from Turkey, United Nations refugee and migration agencies said. Among them were “children and entire families,″ according to the UN statement, with most of the passengers from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia. AP
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At least 80 people were found alive, including some who reached the shore after the shipwreck just off Calabria’s coastline along the Ionian Sea, the Italian Coast Guard said. One of the agency’s motorboats rescued two men suffering from hypothermia and recovered the body of a boy. AP
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“All of the survivors are adults,″ Red Cross volunteer Ignazio Mangione said. ”Unfortunately, all the children are among the missing or were found dead on the beach.” A baby and young twins were reported among the dead. AP
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The boat collided with the reefs in wind-whipped seas. Three big chunks of the vessel ended up on the beach near the town of Steccato di Cutro, where splintered pieces of bright blue wood littered the sand like matchsticks. AP
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The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said it was offering psychological assistance to survivors, who included a 16-year-old boy from Afghanistan whose sister, 28, made it to the beach but then died. The group said the teen “hasn’t found the courage to tell his parents.” AP
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The rescue operation involved a helicopter and police aircraft, as well as vessels from state firefighter squads, the Coast Guard and border police. Local fishermen also joined in the search. The bodies were brought to the sports stadium in the nearest city, Crotone. “It’s an enormous tragedy,” Crotone Mayor Vincenzo Voce told RAI. “In solidarity, the city will find places in the cemetery” for the dead. AP
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Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni expressed “her deep sorrow for the many human lives torn away by human traffickers.” “It’s inhumane to exchange the lives of men, women and children for the ‘price’ of a ticket paid by them in the false prospect for a safe voyage,” the far-right leader, whose governing allies include the anti-migrant League party, said. AP
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She vowed to crack down on departures arranged by human smugglers and to press fellow European Union leaders to help. Opposition parties pointed to Sunday’s tragedy as proof of the flaws in Italy’s migration policy. Reuters
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Notably, in 2022, some 105,000 migrants arrived on Italian shores, some 38,000 more than in 2021, according to Interior Ministry figures. According to UN figures, arrivals from the Turkish route accounted for 15 per cent of the total number, with nearly half of those fleeing from Afghanistan. AP
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