Un new human drama off the Italian coast. At least 59 migrants, including a newborn baby a few months old, died after the sinking at dawn of their boat not far from the Italian city of Crotone, in Calabria. “At present, 80 people have been recovered alive, some of whom have managed to reach shore after the sinking, and 43 bodies have been found along the coastline,” said a Coast Guard statement issued at the end of the month. morning.
Since then, the death toll has risen to 59. “Until a few minutes ago, the number of confirmed victims was 59,” the mayor of Crotone in Calabria, Vincenzo Voce, told Sky news channel TG-24 at 4 p.m. (1500 GMT). .
“Dozens and dozens of drowned, including children, many missing. Calabria is in mourning for this terrible tragedy,” said regional president Roberto Occhiuto in a statement. According to the coast guard, the boat was carrying around 120 people and broke on the rocks a few meters from the coast, the firefighters referring to them, “more than 200 people” on board the boat.
Italian police footage shows wood debris scattered over a hundred meters of the beach, where many rescuers and survivors were waiting to be transferred to a reception center.
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Expressing her “deep pain”, the head of government, Giorgia Meloni, ruled in a press release that it was “criminal to put a boat barely 20 meters into the sea with 200 people on board and a bad weather forecast”. . “The government is committed to preventing departures, and with them this kind of tragedy, and will continue to do so, requiring above all the greatest collaboration of the States of departure and origin”, assured Giorgia Meloni.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella lamented the sinking in which “dozens of people, including children, lost their lives”. “A large number of these migrants came from Afghanistan and Iran, fleeing very difficult conditions,” added the Head of State, expressing the wish for “a strong commitment from the international community to eliminate the causes of the migrations: wars, persecutions, terrorism, poverty…”
Von der Leyen wants a European reform of the right to asylum
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called on Sunday for progress on the reform of the right to asylum in the European Union after the death of at least forty migrants in a shipwreck, off the coast of the Italy.
After qualifying the deaths of these migrants in a tweet as a “tragedy” and saying she was “deeply saddened”, Ursula von der Leyen called for “redoubled efforts regarding the Pact on Migration and Asylum, and on the action plan for the central Mediterranean”.
The most delicate part of this Pact, which must be concluded before the end of the term of office of the European Parliament in 2024, concerns a better sharing of responsibilities in the reception of asylum seekers between EU countries, an issue which has divided them since the refugee crisis in 2015-2016.
” Illegal immigration “
Italy, a country of first entry which has received hundreds of thousands of migrants in recent years, criticizes its EU partners for a lack of solidarity in the distribution of the latter, even if a large number of them leave subsequently the peninsula for other countries.
The head of government, Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia (FDI) party, took over as head of a coalition executive in October after promising to reduce the number of migrants arriving in Italy. The new law forces aid ships to carry out only one rescue at a time, which critics say increases the risk of death in the central Mediterranean, which is considered the world’s most perilous crossing for migrants.
READ ALSOMigrants: Giorgia Meloni puts Olaf Scholz in troubleFor Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, this “tragedy […] demonstrates how absolutely necessary it is to fight firmly against illegal immigration networks”.
Filippo Grandi, head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), deplored “a new terrible shipwreck”, saying that “the time has come for states to stop debating and agree on fair, effective and shared measures to avoid further tragedies”.
Italy’s location makes it a top destination for asylum seekers crossing from North Africa to Europe, and Rome has long complained about the number of arrivals to its territory. According to the Interior Ministry, almost 14,000 migrants have landed in Italy since the start of the year, compared to around 5,200 during the same period last year and 4,200 in 2021.
NGOs pick up only a small percentage of migrants wishing to reach Europe at sea, with most being rescued by Coast Guard or Navy vessels. However, the government accuses these NGOs of stimulating the arrival of migrants through their action and encouraging traffickers.