At least 59 migrants drown in shipwreck as bodies wash up on shores of seaside resort
26 February 2023, 10:13 | Updated: 26 February 2023, 23:31
At least 59 migrants have reportedly drowned after a boat broke apart off Italy's southern coast on Sunday.
A ship carrying as many as 150 migrants ran into trouble at dawn near the coastal town of Crotone, the Coast Guard said.
The boat shipwrecked after leaving from Izmir in eastern Turkey three or four days ago, an Italian official said.
Survivors claimed the boat had been carrying people from Pakistan, Somalia, and Afghanistan and that "140 to 150 people had been aboard".
Forty-five people are confirmed to have lost their lives, with 81 survivors coming ashore, including 22 who are now in hospital.
Read more: Deputy PM Dominic Raab says he'll resign if probe upholds bullying allegation against him
Read more: Sixth man arrested over attempted murder of senior detective John Caldwell in Northern Ireland
Most of those who survived are said to have come from Afghanistan.
A patrol boat recovered two men with hypothermia along with the dead body of a child.
Boats from coast guard, border police and firefighters were involved in efforts to rescue the passengers.
Vigili del Fuoco, the country's institutional agency for fire and rescue service, reported that the vessel ran aground off seaside resort Steccato di Cutro, in the province of Crotone.
The Coast Guard of Reggio said it is coordinating the search and rescue operation at sea and has sent two patrol boats and a helicopter to look for survivors.
Danilo Maida, a spokesperson for the firefighters in the Calabria region, said firefighters continue to search for further survivors at sea, but it's difficult due to harsh conditions are harsh.
The Coast Guard of Reggio said it is coordinating search and rescue activities at sea and has sent two patrol boats and a helicopter from the Catania Aircraft Base to look for survivors.
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni voiced her “deep sorrow” over the incident and pledged to end irregular sea migration to prevent more tragedies.
“The government is committed to preventing (migrant) departures, and with them the unfolding of these tragedies, and will continue to do so, first of all by demanding maximum collaboration from (migrants’) countries of departure and of origin,” she said in a statement.
Pope Francis said he was praying for everyone caught in the shipwreck in his weekly address in St Peter's square.
"I heard with sorrow of the shipwreck off the Calabrian coast near Crotone. Already 40 dead have been recovered, many of them children," he said.
"I pray for every one of them, for the missing and for the other surviving migrants."
