Rescue teams found three more dead on Monday, bringing the total number of fatalities in the migrant tragedy off the southern coast of Italy to 62.
This brings home again how risky and desperate the boat voyages are for those trying to reach Europe. Another dozen or more were thought to be missing.
Children were killed when a wooden boat capsized on Sunday in rough seas close to the Calabrian shore.
More people were presumed dead, given survivor claims that the boat departed from Turkey last week had carried roughly 170 people, even though at least 80 individuals were said to have survived.
The 20-meter (65-foot) boat wreckage and the possessions the migrants had carried with them, such as a toddler’s tiny pink sneaker and a yellow plastic pencil bag with pandas, were all over the beach at Steccato di Cutro on Calabria’s Ionian coast.
Only a few life jackets were dispersed throughout the rubble.
The U.N. However, many of the dead were Afghans, including members of extended families, Pakistanis, and Iraqis, according to Doctors Without Borders, which had teams on the ground.
Afghans, who progressively fled the escalating security, humanitarian, and economic problems that followed the Taliban takeover in August 2021, were the second most common nationality to apply for asylum in the European Union last year.
On Monday, a helicopter flew overhead, a four-wheel vehicle patrolled the beach, and two coast guard vessels combed the seas around Steccato di Cutro from north to south.
The boat, gas tanks, food containers, and shoe fragments were still being stirred up by the seas, which were thrashed by a strong wind.
Firefighters verified the recovery of three other dead on Monday morning but expressed little optimism for recovering survivors.
Provincial fire Cmdr. Roberto Fasano responded, “I think no, the sea conditions are too difficult.” Yet we must never give up on this dream.
According to Sky TG24 in Italy, three people have been seized on suspicion of aiding in planning the trip from Izmir, Turkey.
Italy is a popular destination for people traffickers, particularly those who launch boats from the Libyan coast but also from Turkey.
As per the U.N. According to statistics, of the 105,000 migrants that landed in Italy last year, 15% came via the Turkish route, with over half coming from Afghanistan.
To escape Greece, where government officials have been frequently accused of driving migrant boats back to Turkey, would-be migrants departing Turkey have increasingly attempted the longer and more hazardous Mediterranean route to Italy.
More people are paying traffickers thousands of euros to travel directly to Italy as a substitute for the overcrowded refugee camps in Greece and the increasingly arduous task of reuniting with family in Western and Northern Europe.
A least 58 migrants were killed and more than 81 were rescued when the human smuggling boat they were aboard slammed into the rocks off the coast of southern Italy and "disintegrated" just feet from the shoreline, officials said. https://t.co/ZS74zZxWC5 pic.twitter.com/HZJdLNC29c
— ABC News (@ABC) February 27, 2023
JOIN US ON WHAT'SAPP, TO GET INSTANT STATUS UPDATES AND BE IN THE KNOW.
CLICK HERE
