AFP. The Italian coast guard continued its search on Monday at sea and on the coast near Crotone in Calabria, after the shipwreck the day before of a boat with migrants that left dozens dead.
The discovery of the bodies of new victims washed ashore by the tide increased the death toll to 62, the coast guard said. This number could go up. The previous balance was 59 deaths.
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The NGOs took care of children who saw their relatives drown when the overloaded boat hit some rocks. Fact occurred just a few meters from the coast in the middle of a storm last Sunday at dawn.
“A 12-year-old Afghan boy lost his entire family, nine people in all. His four brothers and sisters, his parents and other members of his family,” said Sergio di Dato, head of the Doctors Without Borders team of psychologists.
Remains of the boat were found scattered on the beach, according to images from the Italian police and AFP.
Search
Firefighters from the neighboring city of Cutro mobilized a boat on Monday to launch new searches, aided by helicopters that flew over the area.
Local officials indicated that the search continues for some 20 possible missing persons, although survivors have given different versions of how many people were on the ship.
Forensic police have begun the identification task, sharing an email address to which those looking for their loved ones can write to send significant details, from eye or hair color to tattoos.
survivors
The Italian NGO Save the Children indicated on Twitter that it took care of survivors from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria. Among them, dozens of minors traveling with their families. “There are many missing children,” she added.
According to this NGO, the survivors recounted that “during the night, near the coast, they heard a loud noise and then they all fell into the water.” “Some said they saw their relatives fall into the water and disappear, or die.”
The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday that 16 Pakistanis were among those rescued, and that four of the missing were Pakistanis.
A Pakistani official in the fight against human trafficking explained that more and more people from his country decide to migrate. The foregoing, due to the “worsening of the economic situation and the lack of work.”
“We estimate that some 40,000 try to enter European countries every year,” he said, requesting anonymity.
«Criminal»
The boat had left Izmir in Turkey last week, and three of the people responsible for smuggling illegal migrants have already been arrested. But police are looking for a fourth suspect, Italian media reported Monday.
The head of government of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, expressed her “deep pain”. She also pointed out that it was “criminal to send a vessel barely 20 meters into the sea with 200 people on board and with a bad weather forecast.”
Italy, a country to which hundreds of thousands of migrants have arrived in recent years, reproaches its partners in the European Union for a lack of solidarity in spreading the burden of this situation, even if a large number of these people do not stay on the peninsula .
Italy’s geographical situation makes it a destination of choice for asylum seekers moving from North Africa to Europe.
According to the Interior Ministry, some 14,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, up from 5,200 in the same period last year and 4,200 in 2021.