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Children and women among the 59 people killed after a migrant boat collided with rocks near Italy

2023-02-26T19:51:28.869Z


At least 59 people, including a baby, children and several women, died after a wooden boat carrying migrants broke apart when it hit rocks off the Calabrian coast.


Rescuers arrive at the beach where bodies were found after the sinking of a migrant boat, in Cutro, on the eastern coast of the Italian region of Calabria, this Sunday.

(Credit: Giuseppe Pipita/Reuters)

(CNN) --

At least 59 people, including a baby, children and several women, died after a wooden boat carrying migrants broke apart when it hit rocks off the coast of Calabria, Italy, the prefect said. from Crotone, Manuela Curra.

The death toll is provisional and is likely to rise.

The bad weather in that part of the Mediterranean makes the search work difficult by enlarging the rubble area.

The first three bodies washed up on the beach near Staccato di Cutro, in southern Italy, around 4:40 am local time this Sunday.

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The ship left the Turkish city of Izmir three to four days ago with between 140 and 150 people on board, according to Reuters.

About 80 people saved themselves by clinging to pieces of the boat, Italian firefighters told CNN.

The survivors came from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, they added.

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The preliminary death toll of 58 could rise, according to a local official, as bad weather has enlarged the rubble area.

(Credit: Giuseppe Pipita/Reuters)

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni blamed human traffickers.

"It is criminal to launch a vessel barely 20 meters long with 200 people on board in adverse weather conditions," she said in a statement.

"It is inhumane to trade the lives of men, women and children for the price of a ticket under the false idea of ​​safe travel."

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi added that new measures must be instituted to reduce these dangerous journeys.

"It is essential to continue all possible initiatives to stop departures and discourage journeys in any way that takes advantage of the illusion of a better life," he said in a statement.

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Meloni made detaining migrant boats a priority for her far-right government.

This week Parliament passed new laws making it more difficult for NGOs to carry out bailouts.

In Vatican City, this Sunday, in reference to the victims of the shipwreck, Pope Francis said: "I pray for each one of them, for the disappeared and for the other migrants who survived. I thank those who help them and those who help. May the Virgin Mary help these brothers and sisters."

Police officers on the beach where bodies were found.

One survivor was arrested for migrant smuggling.

(Credit: Italian Police/Reuters)

UNHCR records show that so far in 2023, 11,874 people have arrived in Italy by sea, 678 of them in Calabria.

Arrivals typically come from African countries, rather than the Middle East and Asia, with most vessels leaving from Libya.

Only 8.3% of arrivals are from Pakistan, 6.7% from Afghanistan and 0.7% from Iran.

The rest come mainly from Africa, with 17.3% of arrivals coming from the Ivory Coast alone and 13.1% from Guinea.

Other African countries, including North Africa, account for most of the remainder.

The deadliest migration route is through the Central Mediterranean, where at least 20,334 people have died since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration's Missing Migrants Project.

ItalyMigrants

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2023-02-26

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