STECCATO DI CUTRO, ITALY (AP) – The death toll rose to 62 in the migrant tragedy off Italy’s southern coast after rescue crews recovered three more bodies yesterday, driving home once again the desperate and dangerous boat crossings of people seeking to reach Europe. Dozens more were believed to be missing.
Children were among the dead after a wooden boat broke up in stormy seas on the reefs near the Calabrian coast on Sunday. At least 80 people survived, but more were feared dead given survivor reports that the boat, which set off from Turkiye last week, had carried about 170 people.
The beach at Steccato di Cutro, on Calabria’s Ionian coast, was littered with the splintered remains of the 20-metre boat as well as the belongings the migrants had brought with them, including a toddler’s tiny pink sneaker and a yellow plastic pencil case decorated with pandas. There were only a few life jackets scattered amid the debris.
The United Nations (UN) and Doctors Without Borders, which had crews on the scene, said many of the victims were Afghans, including members of large families, as well as Pakistanis and Iraqis.
Yesterday, two coast guard vessels searched the seas north to south off Steccato di Cutro while a helicopter flew overhead and a four-wheel vehicle patrolled the beach. A strong wind whipped the seas that still churned up splinters of the boat, gas tanks, food containers
and shoes.
Firefighters confirmed three more bodies had been recovered yesterday morning, but held out little hope for finding survivors.
“I think no, because the sea conditions are too difficult,” said provincial fire Commander Roberto Fasano. “But we can never abandon this hope.”
Italy’s Sky TG24 said at least three people had been detained on suspicion they helped organise the trip from Izmir, Turkiye.
Italy is a prime destination for migrant smugglers, especially for traffickers launching boats from Libyan shores, but also from Turkiye. According to UN figures, arrivals from the Turkish route accounted for 15 per cent of the 105,000 migrants who arrived on Italian shores last year, with nearly half of those fleeing from Afghanistan.
Firefighter Inspector Giuseppe Larosa said what gutted the first rescue crews who arrived on the scene was how many children drowned, and that the bodies of the dead had scratches all over them, as if they had tried to hang onto the boat to save themselves.
The mayor of Cutro declared a day of mourning yesterday, with flags on public buildings at half-staff. A city ordinance invited residents, and especially schoolchildren, to observe a minute of silence at 11am.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, who spearheaded Italy’s crackdown on migration, visited the scene on Sunday and met with local officials in Crotone. At a news conference, he insisted the solution was to put an end to migrant crossings at their origin.
“I ask myself how it’s possible that these crossings are organised, pushing women and children to make the trips that end up tragically dangerous,” he said.
Italy’s government under Premier Giorgia Meloni focussed on trying to block migrant boats from departing, while discouraging humanitarian rescue teams from operating in the central Mediterranean where Libyan-based smugglers operate. Meloni said on Sunday the government was committed to that policy “above all by insisting on the maximum collaboration with the countries of origin and departure”.
Italy complained for years that fellow European Union countries balked at taking in migrants, many of whom are aiming to find family or work in northern Europe. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for a redoubling of efforts to deal with the problem.
“The resulting loss of life of innocent migrants is a tragedy,” she said in a tweet.