At least 60 migrants traveling from Türkiye died in a shipwreck that occurred this Sunday off the coast of the Calabria region in Italy, the Rescue Coordination Center (CCR) reported.
A spokesperson for the rescue center indicated that they have managed to rescue 80 survivors of the 250 migrants who are presumed to be on board the boat. They explained that the engine that was pushing the boat exploded at night, causing dozens of injuries as well as damage to the boat, reports the EFE Agency.
The CCR spokesman specified that some 21 people were hospitalized with injuries, while one of the migrants is seriously injured. The bodies of several children, one of them a newborn and 12 minors, were found yesterday morning among the human remains scattered over several kilometers from the tourist beach of Steccato, in that province, reports Latin Press.
According to preliminary information, the 20-meter-long vessel was carrying citizens of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, expressed in an official note his sorrow for the shipwreck, “another tragedy in the Mediterranean that cannot leave anyone indifferent”, and called for a strong commitment from the international community to eliminate the root causes of the flows of migrants,” he said.
Mattarella addressed the European Union (EU), so that it “finally assumes the specific responsibility of governing the migratory phenomenon to keep it away from human traffickers, getting directly involved in the policies
migratory”.