The president of the republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, expressed this Sunday “appalled” by the shipwreck that happened this morning in Calabria, Italy, lamented the “life lost at sea” and sent a message to the Italian counterpart, Sergio Mattarella.
“The President of the Republic, shaken by yet another disaster, deplores the dozens of lives lost at sea in the terrible shipwreck off the coast of Calabria, after sending a message to Italian President Sergio Mattarella,” read a statement. published note. on the website official of the Presidency of the Republic.
The number of migrants killed in a shipwreck that occurred early Sunday near the Italian town of Crotone, in southern Italy’s Calabria, has risen to 59, the town’s mayor said.
“Until a few minutes ago, the number of confirmed victims was 59,” sayssse Vincenzo Voce to the news channel Sky TG-24, at 16:00 local time (15:00 in Lisbon).
In the previous assessment, Italian rescue teams reported finding 45 bodies of migrants and 80 survivors from the shipwreck that took place in southern Italy at dawn this Sunday, but feared there could be more fatalities.
Rescue workers said many of the victims were children, including a newborn baby, and women.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni issued a statement expressing her “deep regret” over the tragedy, saying it was “criminal to put a 20-metre boat with 200 people on board and a forecast of bad weather” at sea.
The uncertainty about the number of casualties is due to different reports from survivors about those on board the sunken ship.
The number of passengers brought forward by survivors varies between 150 and 250, said members of the rescue teams, who admitted that communication with the migrants is difficult because of the language.
The Italian press reported that the migrants are from Iraq, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan, after initially reporting the presence of Pakistanis.
According to the coastguard, the boat stranded on the rocks a few meters from shore, at a time when the sea was very rough.
Images from Italian police showed wooden wreckage scattered over a hundred meters of beach, where many rescuers and survivors waited to be transferred to a shelter.
Meloni said the government is determined to prevent the departure of boats in circumstances leading to tragedies such as this Sunday and pledged to continue doing so, “which requires, above all, greater cooperation from the states of departure and origin”.
This shipwreck came just days after parliament passed controversial new migrant rescue rules drafted by the far-right executive.
Meloni, leader of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia (FDI) party, took over as head of a coalition government in October 2022 after promising to reduce the number of migrants entering Italy.
The new law requires humanitarian ships to conduct only one rescue at a time, which critics say increases the risk of death in the central Mediterranean, considered the world’s most dangerous crossing for migrants.
Italy’s geography makes it an excellent destination for asylum seekers moving from North Africa to Europe, and Rome has long complained about the number of arrivals on its territory.
In response to this tragedy, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, called on member states to reach agreement more quickly on migration policies.
Nearly 14,000 migrants have landed in Italy since the beginning of the year, up from about 5,200 in the same period last year and 4,200 in 2021, according to the Interior Ministry.
Source: DN
