Dozens, including kids, die as migrant boat sinks off Italy coast

A wooden boat carrying 130 to 180 migrants broke apart against rocks near a beach town in southern Italy early on Sunday, drowning at least 59 people, including a newborn and other children, authorities said.

Eighty people survived the wreck, according to Italy’s coast guard, which said helicopters, ships and water scooters were still looking for more survivors in what remained “particularly hostile weather conditions.” The death toll was expected to rise.

The migrants were mainly from Afghanistan, but also from Iran and Pakistan, and had been crossing from Turkey, authorities said.

The wreck drew expressions of grief and demands for action from leaders across the political spectrum in Italy.

In video footage released by police, chunks of wooden beams and boards could be seen lying next to a structure resembling a boat’s keel on the beach of Steccato di Cutro, a small seaside town on Calabria’s eastern coast. Italian news outlets showed survivors covered in thermal blankets sitting in a field near the beach, while a priest blessed the bodies of their dead companions, hidden under white bags nearby.

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Calabria, which forms the tip of Italy’s boot, is geographically the easiest destination for migrant vessels traveling from Turkey. It was the landing place of about 15 per cent of the 105,000 migrants who arrived in Italy last year, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, called the shipwreck the “umpteenth tragedy in the Mediterranean that can’t leave anyone indifferent.”

He called on the international community to tackle the causes of migration, adding in an unusually harsh statement: “It is equally indispensable that the European Union finally takes on concrete responsibility” to control migration and take it out of the hands of human traffickers.

During prayers on Sunday, Pope Francis mentioned the shipwreck’s victims off Calabria, thanking all those who had participated in rescue operations and those who would offer shelter.

“I pray for them,” he said, referring to the migrants on the Calabrian shores. “For those who are lost, and for those who have survived.”

The central Mediterranean is historically one of the deadliest routes for migrants trying to reach Europe. In 2022, 1,417 people died during the crossing, according to the International Organization for Migration. Deaths were particularly high this month, with 158 already recorded in the weeks before Sunday’s wreck, compared with 132 in February last year.