Europe 1 with AFP 3:14 p.m., February 26, 2023

About forty 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 (south), the media reported on Sunday.

Italian firefighters confirmed on Twitter that they had recovered 28 bodies, while three others were said to have been swept away by sea currents from the boat which Italian media said contained 150 to 250 people.

In addition, around 40 people were rescued, according to firefighters.

At least forty 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 (South), indicated Sunday the coastguards Italians.

"At present, 80 people have been recovered alive, some of whom have managed to reach the shore after the sinking, and 43 corpses have been found along the coastline," said a statement from the coast guard published at the end of the month. morning.

According to the Coast Guard, the boat was carrying around 120 people and broke on the rocks a few meters from the coast, with firefighters citing "more than 200 people" on board the boat.

About 120 people in 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.

Expressing her "deep pain", the head of government Giorgia Meloni judged in a press release "criminal to put at sea a boat of barely 20 meters 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, demanding above all the greatest collaboration of the States of departure and origin", assured Giorgia Meloni.

Referring to his "pain", Pope Francis affirmed "to pray for each of them, for the disappeared and for the other migrants who survived".

The President of the Republic 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...".

The new shipwreck comes just days after parliament passed controversial new rules by the far-right-dominated government on rescuing migrants.

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Fratelli d'Italia party (FDI), took over as head of a coalition executive in October after promising to reduce the number of migrants arriving in Italy.

"Illegal immigration"

The new law requires humanitarian ships to carry out only one rescue at a time, which critics say increases the risk of death in the central Mediterranean whose crossing is considered the most perilous in the world for migrants.

For Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, this "tragedy (...) demonstrates how it is absolutely necessary to fight firmly against the networks of illegal immigration".

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, nearly 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. However, NGOs only transport a small percentage migrants wishing to arrive in Europe, most being rescued by coast guard or navy vessels.

However, the government accuses the NGOs of stimulating the arrival of migrants through their action and encouraging traffickers.

“People at sea must be saved whatever the cost, without penalizing those who help them,” Carlo Calenda, ex-minister and leader of the centrist Azione party, reacted on Twitter on Sunday.

“It is humanly unacceptable and incomprehensible why we are here witnessing avoidable tragedies,” wrote Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Twitter.

For her part, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen called on Sunday for progress on the reform of the right of asylum in the European Union, after the death of at least forty migrants in a shipwreck, off from Italy.

After qualifying the death of these migrants in a tweet as a "tragedy" and saying she was "deeply saddened", Ursula Von der Leyden called for "redoubled efforts concerning the Pact on migration and the right of asylum, and on the Central Mediterranean Action Plan".