More Than 30 People Dead in Southern Italy Shipwreck: Sources
At least 30 people have died and more than 40 have survived a migrant shipwreck in southern Italy, ANSA and other Italian news agencies have reported on Sunday.
The shipwreck took place near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria, the region that forms the tip of Italy’s boot.
Danilo Maida, spokesman for the firefighters’ service in Calabria told Reuters the death toll has surpassed 30, and the initial number was provisional.
In response to the incident, the Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi in a statement said, “it is a massive tragedy, which translates that there is an absolute need to act firmly against irregular migration channels.”
Since the irregular migrations surged to Europe from Asian and African states in 2014, thousands of people have lost their lives, and many more are missing on the way to Europe. According to the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project, 20,333 people have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean since 2014.
The boat carrying migrants from Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan has crashed against rocks during rough sea weather, according to officials.
Italy is one of the main landing points for migrants to enter Europe by sea. The so-called central Mediterranean route is considered the most dangerous crossing in the world for people seeking asylum in Europe.
The new law forces migrant aid vessels to make just one rescue attempt at a time, which critics say risks increasing the number of drownings in the central Mediterranean.
The number of migrants who have died or gone missing by taking the central Mediterranean seas is quite high over the past couple of years. Therefore, attempts are made to stem the flow of migrants reaching Italian shores, Italian coastal guards said.
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