Forty-three people died while 80 people survived when a ship carrying migrants crashed against rocks near the coast of southern Italy early on Sunday, the Italian coast guard and police said.
The shipwreck took place near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria, the region that forms the tip of Italy’s boot.
“At present, a complete of 80 people have been found alive – a few of whom have managed to achieve the shore after the shipwreck – and 43 bodies have been found along the coast,” the coast guard said in an announcement.
The boat was carrying about 120 people and hit rocks “a couple of meters from the shore,” the coast guard said, adding that the seek for other possible survivors was still on.
Earlier, the Mayor of Cutro, Antonio Ceraso, told the SkyTG24 news channel that ladies and kids were among the many dead.
He said the migrants’ wood boat had “disintegrated” amid stormy sea conditions, with parts of the wreckage ruins strewn across some 984 feet of the coast.
His voice cracking up, Ceraso said he witnessed “a spectacle that you just would never wish to see in your life … a gruesome sight … that stays with you for all of your life.”
Firefighters were searching the ocean on jet skis, but conditions were harsh making the operation difficult, Calabria firefighters’ spokesman Danilo Maida told Reuters.
Initial reports from ANSA and other Italian news agencies, spoke of 27 bodies washed up on the beach and more present in the water.
Italian news agency Adnkronos said the migrants caught up within the shipwreck got here from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, while ANSA said they got here from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
‘ILLUSORY MIRAGE’
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed “deep sorrow” for the deadly incident, and vowed to stop irregular sea migration to stop more deaths at sea.
Her right-wing government has taken a tough line on migration because it took power in October, mostly by restricting the activities of migrant rescue charities with tough latest laws.
“It is a large tragedy which shows absolutely the must act firmly against irregular migration channels,” Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said in a separate statement.
It was “essential” to stop sea crossings which, offering migrants the “illusory mirage of a greater life” in Europe, enrich traffickers and “cause tragedies like today’s”, he added.
Pope Francis, a vocal advocate for migrants’ rights, said he was praying for everybody caught up within the shipwreck during his Sunday address to crowds in St. Peter’s Square.
Italy is one in every of the principal landing points for migrants attempting to enter Europe by sea. The so-called central Mediterranean route is generally known as one in every of the world’s most dangerous.
Based on the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project, 20,333 people have died or gone missing within the central Mediterranean since 2014.
