The death toll from the Sunday sinking of a boat with about 200 migrants on board near the coast of the Italian region of Calabria, in the south of the country, amounted to 62, as confirmed by the authorities on Monday.
According to information collected by the Italian news agency dnakronosin the last hours two other bodies have been found in the area by the search and rescue teams, which continue to work in the waters of Steccato di Cutro, in the municipality of Crotona.
From the first reports it appears that the boat broke in two, probably after hitting a rock due to rough seas off the coast of Steccato di Cutro, a town in the province of Crotone.
About 50 people have been rescued at this point and 22 of them are hospitalized, half minors, and one in very serious condition, while Probably more than a hundred are still missing in what could be one of the worst tragedies in the recent history of the migration crisis..
Italian rescue services estimate that some 180 migrants were on board the boat at the time of the shipwreck, but some of the survivors put the number at 250 occupants, the newspaper reported. Il Messaggero.
The search operations are in charge of the Harbor Master’s Office and the Finance Guard and since the early hours of the morning divers and helicopters are also being used as many more victims are feared since the survivors explained that in the boat that left Four days off the Turkish coast, some 200 migrants from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Syria were on board.
After the event, the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has promised to toughen the laws against illegal migration, affirmed that his government “is committed to avoiding this kind of tragedies, by demanding above all the full collaboration of the countries of departure.” “It is criminal for a ship with 200 people on board to end up sailing in such adverse conditions and it is inhumane to trade the lives of men, women and children for a ‘ticket’ under the false expectation of safe voyage,” he said.
For his part, the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, called for “a strong commitment from the international community to remove the root causes of migrant flows; wars, persecutions, terrorism, poverty, inhospitable territories due to climate change”.
And he invited the European Union to provide greater assistance to Italy in managing migratory flows.
“It is equally essential that the European Union finally assume the specific responsibility of governing the migratory phenomenon in order to keep it away from traffickers in human beings, committing itself directly to migratory policies, in supporting cooperation for the development of the countries from which young people they are forced to leave due to a lack of prospects,” he said.
The NGO Amnesty International also reacted, calling again for “safe and legal routes” to Europe. “The grief and horror we have felt at these tragic deaths must be channeled into action by European governments, which must ensure that there are safe and legal routes for people to reach the EU,” said Amnesty’s Director of Support for Europe. , Eve Geddy.
“How many more lives must be lost before decision makers in Europe realize that blocking safe and legal routes and criminalizing rescuers does not stop people from wanting to make these journeys? It only makes them more dangerous,” she added.
With information from Europa Press and EFE
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Source-www.infobae.com