Two more bodies were found this Sunday on a beach in Calabria, in southern Italy, two weeks after the sinking of a precarious boat with migrants in Cutro, which raised the death toll to 78, with 25 still missing, the authorities said. authorities.
The two bodies, of a baby and a man, were found on the Praialonga coast, a few kilometers north of the place where the shipwreck was recorded, in Steccato di Cutro, when the boat sank, with some 200 migrants on board.
The boy was found floating near the beach, while the man’s body was already dead on the sand.
With the two deaths, the number of fatalities rises to 78, 32 of them better, 23 in the age group between 0 and 12 years.
Another 25 migrants remain missing, at a time when the Mediterranean is the scene of a wave of illegal immigrant crossings from North Africa to Europe, especially to Italy.
On Saturday, the Italian Coast Guard announced that it had rescued more than 1,300 migrants who were adrift or in precarious boats in the central Mediterranean, less than two weeks after the deadly shipwreck off the country’s southern coast.
The Italian Justice opened an investigation into the tragedy, mainly to try to explain the late arrival of help.
The shipwreck shocked Italy and drew strong criticism of the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni, elected on the basis of a political program in which she also supports an anti-immigration line.
The Italian Coast Guard and Navy sent several rescue boats on Friday to help three boats carrying hundreds of migrants who were spotted in the central Mediterranean, one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes.
On Saturday, around 03:00 local time (02:00 in Lisbon), 487 migrants were rescued and disembarked safely in Crotone, after being removed from precarious boats that threatened to sink.
Several Coast Guard videos released Friday showed some of them on the deck of a large fishing boat rocking in rough seas.
Another rescue operation, in which 500 migrants were rescued aboard a Coast Guard vessel, is ending, according to the same source.
The Italian news agency Ansa previously reported that the ship, which was carrying 584 migrants, docked at the port of Reggio Calabria, a coastal city in the south of the Italian peninsula.
A third boat with 379 people was rescued by two coast guard patrol boats and the migrants were transferred to a navy ship bound for the Sicilian port of Augusta.
On Thursday, at the end of a meeting of the Council of Ministers, held in southern Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reaffirmed the government’s determination to fight against illegal immigration and smugglers.
Since he took office in October 2022, the majority executive of the extreme right has multiplied the obstacles to the operations of humanitarian ships in the Mediterranean and has engaged in a confrontation with European partners to obtain support and greater solidarity in the reception of migrants.
At the meeting, the Council of Ministers approved a new decree that increases the penalties for human traffickers and creates a new crime punishable with a maximum sentence of 30 years (previously five years) for criminals responsible for operations that have caused death or injuries to migrants.
According to the Italian Ministry of the Interior, since January 1 of this year, 17,592 migrants have disembarked in Italy, a figure almost three times higher than the 5,995 who disembarked in the same period of 2022.
The number of immigrant arrivals via the central Mediterranean route increased by 116% in January and February compared to 2022, according to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex).
Source: TSF
