More than 40 migrants, including a month-old baby, drowned and 50 others were rescued after their boat broke up and sank in rough seas off the southern Italian coast.
The wooden boat reportedly ran into trouble at dawn in the Ionian Sea on Sunday near the southern coast of the Italian mainland with more than 200 migrants on board, authorities said.
The Italian coast guard and firefighters have recovered more than 40 bodies after the accident near the coastal town of Crotone, in the Calabria region.
State television quoted the local prefect’s office as saying that 33 bodies had been recovered by late morning and 80 people had been rescued.
The Italian news agency AGI said that among the bodies was that of a baby of a few months.
The wooden boat reportedly ran into trouble at dawn in the Ionian Sea on Sunday near the southern coast of the Italian mainland with 100 migrants on board.
The Italian coast guard and firefighters have recovered more than 30 bodies after the accident near the seaside town of Crotone
Italian rescue services said: “At the moment, 80 people have been recovered alive, including some who managed to reach the coast after the sinking,” the coast guard said in a statement.
“Forty-three bodies have been found along the coast,” it added.
Rescue teams told AFP that the boat was carrying “more than 200 people”, of whom about 50 had been brought to safety.
‘Dozens and dozens of people drowned, including children. Many are missing. Calabria is in mourning after this terrible tragedy,’ said the regional governor, Roberto Occhiuto.
State television said some 27 of the survivors washed ashore, apparently alone.
Pieces of wood from the wreckage littered the beach at Steccato di Cutro, near the point where the ship apparently broke up.
Firefighters, including salvage divers, recovered several bodies, including three swept by a strong current away from the wreckage.
“It’s a huge tragedy,” Crotone mayor Vincenzo Voce told RAI state television.
Italian firefighters and Red Cross personnel gather at the spot where the bodies of the migrants washed ashore.
In the image: a group of people assisted by the emergency services on the beach.
“In solidarity, the city will search for places in the cemetery” for the dead, Voce said.
Details about the nationalities of the migrants were not immediately provided in the reports.
It was not immediately clear where the ship had departed from, but migrant boats arriving in Calabria typically depart from Turkish or Egyptian shores.
Many of these ships, including sailboats, often make it to remote stretches of Italy’s long southern coastline without the help of coast guard or humanitarian rescue ships.
Far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, leader of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, won power in October, partly on a promise to stem the flow of migrants reaching Italy’s shores.
Expressing “deep sorrow” over the latest deaths, Meloni said it was “criminal to put a ship barely 20 meters (66 feet) into the sea with 200 people on board and a bad weather forecast.”
“The government is committed to avoiding departures and with them this type of tragedies,” he added in a statement, and demanded the “greater” collaboration of the states from which the migrants depart and originate.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said it was ‘criminal to put a ship barely 20 meters (66 feet) into the sea with 200 people on board and a bad weather forecast.
The latest such tragedy comes just days after the government passed a controversial new law on rescuing potential migrants through parliament.
The new law forces migrant aid ships to make only one rescue attempt at a time, which critics say risks increasing the number of drownings in the central Mediterranean.
The route is considered the most dangerous crossing in the world for people seeking asylum in Europe.
A large proportion of people fleeing conflict and poverty for what they hope is a better life in Europe cross from Africa via Italy.
According to the Interior Ministry, almost 14,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea so far this year, up from 5,200 in the same period last year and 4,200 in the first two months of 2021.
Charities that rescue people in distress at sea bring only a fraction of migrants ashore.
The route is considered the most dangerous crossing in the world for people seeking asylum in Europe.
Most of those who were rescued were pulled from the waters by the coast guard or navy.
Most of those who are rescued are rescued from dangerous waters by the Coast Guard or Navy.
Despite this, the government in Rome accuses rescue charities of encouraging migrants to attempt the crossing and increasing the fortunes of people smugglers.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the latest disaster “shows how absolutely necessary it is to firmly combat illegal immigration.”
Former centrist economy minister Carlo Calenda reacted on Twitter: “People in distress at sea must be rescued, whatever the cost, without penalizing those who try to help them.”
