The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, confessed this Sunday to being “shocked” by the shipwreck that occurred early this Sunday in the Italian city of Crotone, in Calabria, in southern Italy, in which at least 59 died. migrants.
In note published on the website of the Presidency it can be read that the head of state is “shocked by yet another disaster” and “regrets the dozens of human lives lost at sea.”
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has already sent “a message to the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella”, about the accident.
There is still some uncertainty as to the number of casualties, particularly due to differing accounts by survivors as to who was on the ship that sank.
The number of passengers carried forward by the survivors varies between 150 and 250, said members of the rescue teams, admitting that there are difficulties in communicating with the migrants because of the language.
The Italian press reported that the migrants are from Iraq, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan, after initially mentioning the presence of Pakistanis.
According to the coast guard, the boat broke up on the rocks a few meters from the coast, at a time when the sea was very rough.
The Italian police images showed wooden remains scattered along a hundred meters of beach, where many rescuers and survivors waited to be transferred to a reception center.
Italy’s geographic location makes it a top destination for asylum seekers moving from North Africa to Europe, and Rome has long complained about the number of arrivals on its territory.
In reaction 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 speed up an agreement on migration policy.
According to the Interior Ministry, almost 14,000 migrants have landed in Italy since the beginning of the year, up from about 5,200 during the same period last year and 4,200 in 2021.
Source: TSF
