Bodies are moved from a coast guard boat in the aftermath of a deadly migrant shipwreck, at the port in Le Castella, Italy, February 27, 2023. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Italian authorities arrested three people and were looking for a fourth suspect who they believe trafficked up to 200 migrants aboard a wooden boat that smashed apart on rocks off southern Italy on Sunday, killing at least 64 people.
The coffins of the victims found so far were laid out in an indoor sports arena in the southern city of Crotone, with small white caskets for the youngest of them and brown wooden ones for the others.
All had flowers on top, and some had engraved name tags. A toy police rescue vehicle had been placed on one of the children’s coffins.
Relatives of the victims arrived in Crotone from northern Europe to mourn the dead and try to trace survivors. Rescuers said most of the migrants came from Afghanistan, with others from Pakistan, Iran, Somalia and Syria.
Lieutenant Colonel Alberto Lippolis said a Turkish man and two Pakistani nationals had sailed the boat from Turkey to Italy despite the terrible weather, and were identified by survivors as “the main culprits of the tragedy”.
“According to initial investigations, they allegedly asked the migrants for about 8 000 euros ($8,485) each for the deadly journey,” said Lippolis, commander of a finance police team in the region of Calabria. “All three have been arrested.”
One of the Pakistanis was a minor, a judicial source said, and police were looking for a fourth suspect, who is Turkish.
The boat hit rocks and broke up early on Sunday in heavy seas near the town of Steccato di Cutro on the toe of Italy.
Rescuers pulled a dead man from the sea on Tuesday, bringing the number of bodies retrieved so far to 64, including 14 children. There were 80 survivors, who said that the boat had been carrying between 150 to 200 migrants.
“We will carry on searching ... the sea until we are certain that we have found everyone,” said Rocco Mortato, a member of the underwater diving team of the fire brigade.
The boat had set sail from the port of Izmir in western Turkey towards the end of last week.
‘TRAUMATISED’
Teams from the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity were providing psychological support to the survivors.
“They are heavily traumatised. Everyone has lost someone,” said Mara Eliana Tunno, an MSF psychologist.
One 12-year-old boy had lost his entire family, while a 16-year-old boy from Afghanistan has lost his sister.
“He didn’t have the courage to tell his parents,” Tunno said.
The tragedy has fuelled a debate on migration in Europe and Italy, where the recently elected right-wing government’s tough new laws for migrant rescue charities have drawn criticism from the United Nations and others.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in an interview on Monday that she had written to European Union institutions calling for immediate action by the bloc to stop migrant boat trips so as to prevent more deaths.
“The more people depart, the more risk dying,” she told RAI public television. “The only way to tackle this issue seriously, with humanity, is to stop the departures.”
Hundreds of thousands of migrants have reached Italy by boat over the past decade, fleeing conflict and poverty back home.
A group of politicians from the Green party demonstrated in front of Meloni’s office on Tuesday to demand why more wasn’t done to save the migrants when their crowded vessel was spotted on Saturday.
Police have said that patrol boats were sent to intercept the migrants, but severe weather forced them to return to port.
