(Updates with more details on sinking and origin of migrants)
Rome, 26 Feb. Italian authorities have recovered 60 bodies and rescued 80 people after the precarious boat in which more than 200 people had been traveling from Turkey for four days sank on Sunday.
The bodies of the migrants, including a newborn baby and at least 12 minors, were located for several kilometers along the coast of the Calabria region, near the beach of Steccato (province of Crotone), confirmed to EFE des sources of the carabinieri (militarized police). .
It is not excluded that the number of dead reaches one hundred, since between 200 and 250 migrants were traveling on the boat, according to the first testimonies of the survivors, according to the same source.
Footage shared by local press shows the pieces of a wooden boat being dragged by the waves to the beach, although the circumstances that caused its destruction are unknown.
At first, the boat was thought to have gotten lost and shattered after hitting rocks, although some of the survivors told authorities that the engine pushing it had exploded in the middle of the night, causing dozens of deaths. injured and finally , leaving the boat in pieces.
The Italian authorities already knew of the existence of this ship since yesterday, when they were alerted by a helicopter from a patrol of the Frontex agency, reveals the newspaper La Reppublica.
After the call, an aircraft searched for him, but rough sea conditions and darkness prevented operations and forced his agents to return to shore.
Thus, all the survivors reached the coast by their own means, where they are taken care of by the coastguards and the Red Cross. Twenty of them were transferred to Crotone hospital while the others remain in a shelter.
The vast majority, all under the age of 30, come from Iran, Pakistan, Syria and Afghanistan, and left for Italy from the port city of Izmir in the far west of Turkey. .
According to public television RAI, authorities have arrested one of the suspected traffickers and those responsible for the boat.
“This is yet another tragedy in the Mediterranean which cannot leave anyone indifferent”, lamented the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, in a press release.
The President underlined that it is “essential that the European Union finally assumes the responsibility of governing the migratory phenomenon to free it from human traffickers”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni denounced in a statement that “it is criminal to board a ship only 20 meters long with up to 200 people on board and with forecasts of bad weather”.
“The government has promised to prevent departures, and with them the perpetuation of these tragedies, and will continue to do so, above all by demanding the maximum cooperation of the States of departure and origin”, he added.
The drama comes three days after Italy’s parliament on Thursday approved a new immigration decree, drawn up by Italy’s far-right Brotherhood-led government, which substantially alters rescue operations by ships NGOs.
Among other issues, the regulation obliges to request the allocation of a port after the first rescue of a group of migrants and to proceed to this place without detour to locate other vessels in danger.
In addition, NGOs have repeatedly denounced that for months the Italian authorities have been assigning distant ports, in northern and central Italy, which take up to four and five days to arrive, neglecting their operations in the central area of the Mediterranean, where most of these types of boats are wrecked.
“It is intolerable that the only access to Europe is by sea. The absence of a European search and rescue mission is a crime that is repeated every day”, protested the NGO SeaWatch on its social networks.
Another entity, Doctors Without Borders, stressed that the tragedy occurred “a few tens of kilometers from the Italian coast”.
“When fate was before their eyes, the future of dozens of people seeking a safer life in Europe drowned,” added the organization, which provides psychological help to survivors. EFE
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