More than 100 feared dead after Italy migrant boat shipwreck

• 12 children, including a baby, were among the dead.
• 80 people had been found alive.
• Many of those on board are believed to be Pakistanis.

There are worries that more than 100 people, including children, perished when their boat capsized off the coast of southern Italy.

At least 63 migrants have been confirmed dead, with 12 children, including a baby, among the dead.

On Sunday, the vessel, which was carrying approximately 200 people, broke apart while attempting to land in Crotone.

Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s Prime Minister, has urged EU institutions to take action to curb illegal migrant boat trips.

People from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, and Iran were claimed to be on board the boat, which had left Turkey a few days before.

Corpses were discovered on a beach near a coastal resort in the Calabria region.

The coastguard said 80 people had been found alive, “including some who managed to reach the shore after the sinking”, meaning many more remained unaccounted for.

Customs officers reported one survivor was arrested on migrant trafficking allegations.

Two dozen Pakistanis lost their lives

Many of those on board were believed to be Pakistanis. Its Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, stated on Monday that more than two dozen Pakistanis were among the deceased.

As relief and relocation efforts continue, a group of survivors of the fatal shipwreck is struggling to cope with the death of their loved ones.

Some of them were crying without speaking at a temporary welcome center in the town of Isola di Capo Rizzuto, while others were covered in blankets and stared into the void.

“They are heavily traumatized,” said Sergio Di Dato, from the charity Médecins Sans Frontières. “Some children have lost their whole family. We are offering them all the support we can.”

A 16-year-old Afghan kid lost his 28-year-old sister, who perished on the beach beside him. He couldn’t have the courage to tell his parents.

A 43-year-old Afghan man and his 14-year-old son survived, but his wife and three other children, ages 13, nine, and five, did not. Another Afghan widow in tears refused to leave the beach following the death of her husband.

“This is yet another tragedy happening near our shores. It reminds us all that the Mediterranean is a giant mass grave, with tens of thousands of souls in it, and it continues to widen,” said Francesco Creazzo, from SOS Méditerranée, a non-governmental organization engaged in rescue operations in the central Mediterranean.

“There is no end in sight; in 2013, people said ‘never again’ to the little white coffins of Lampedusa, in 2015, they said ‘never again’ in front of the lifeless body of a two-year-old Syrian child on a beach.

“Now the words ‘never again’ are not even pronounced anymore. We only hear ‘no more departures’, but unfortunately people keep venturing on this journey and they keep dying,” he added.

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