45 dead as result wreck of boat with migrants off coast of Italy
2023.02.26 08:46
45 dead as result wreck of boat with migrants off coast of Italy
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – Authorities reported that a wooden sailing boat carrying migrants crashed into rocks on the southern Italian coast early on Sunday, killing 45 people, some of whom were children.
Near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria, the vessel carrying migrants from Afghanistan, Iran, and a number of other nations had set sail from Turkey a few days earlier. It capsized due to inclement weather.
Reuters was informed by provincial government official Manuela Curra that the preliminary death toll stood at 45. She stated that 81 people survived, 22 of whom were taken to a hospital.
According to the Guardia di Finanza customs police, one survivor was taken into custody on suspicion of migrant trafficking.
Antonio Ceraso, mayor of Cutro, stated that children and women were among the deceased. The precise number of children who had passed away was not yet known.
“A spectacle that you would never want to see in your life… a gruesome sight… that stays with you for all your life,” Ceraso told the SkyTG24 news channel, his voice cracking up.
The Turkish sailing boat’s wooden gulet’s wreckage was scattered along a significant portion of the coast.
Curra stated that the vessel left Izmir in eastern Turkey three or four days ago and that 140 to 150 people were on board, according to survivors.
She stated that the majority of the survivors were from Afghanistan, with a few from Pakistan and a couple from Somalia. However, it was more difficult to identify the deceased’s nationalities.
According to Italian President Sergio Mattarella, “many of these migrants came from Afghanistan and Iran, fleeing conditions of great hardship.”
According to the initial reports from ANSA and other Italian news agencies, 27 bodies had washed ashore and additional bodies had been discovered in the water.
SkyTG24 was informed by an official with the Italian Red Cross named Ignazio Mangione that it is believed that only a small number of the children who were on the boat actually made it out alive.
“Dearly sorry” for the deaths, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in “ILLUSORY MIRAGE.” She promised to prevent such catastrophes by preventing migrant sea departures, blaming human traffickers.
Since taking office in October, her right-wing administration has taken a tough stance on migration, most notably by enforcing stringent new laws that restricted the activities of migrant rescue charities and received final parliamentary approval on Thursday.
Meloni says that charities are acting as “pull factors,” encouraging migrants to make the risky sea journey to Italy.
Charities disagree, claiming that migrants leave regardless of whether rescue boats are nearby.
“The work of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) will be stopped, blocked, and hampered in only one way: in response to Sunday’s shipwreck, the Spanish migrant rescue organization Open Arms tweeted, “the death of vulnerable people left without help.”
Matteo Piantedosi, the interior minister of Italy, made a separate statement in which he stated that it was essential to put an end to sea crossings, which, according to him, provide migrants with the “illusory mirage of a better life” in Europe, benefit traffickers, and cause such tragedies.
Pope Francis, who has long been a vocal advocate for the rights of migrants and is the son of Italian immigrants who came to Argentina, stated that he was praying for everyone who was lost in the shipwreck.
Many migrants hoping to reach wealthier countries in northern Europe land in Italy, which is one of the primary landing grounds for sea crossings into Europe. One of the most dangerous routes in the world is the so-called central Mediterranean route.
Since 2014, the Central Mediterranean has seen more than 17,000 deaths and disappearances, according to the United Nations Missing Migrants Project. It projects that more than 220 people have died or vanished this year.
