At least 64 migrants are missing after shipwreck in Italy

At least 64 migrants are missing after the shipwreck of the boat they were travelling on about 110 nautical miles off the coast of Calabria (southern Italy), including 26 minors.

The Italian Coast Guard has been searching for the 64 missing people since last night, after a fishing boat rescued 11 survivors, who were taken by the authorities to the Calabrian port of Roccella Jonica, along with the body of a woman, according to a publication by EFE.

According to the survivors’ reconstruction, “the boat’s engine, which had left Turkey eight days earlier, caught fire, causing it to capsize when it was 110 nautical miles off the Italian coast,” the UN agencies explained.

The survivors, including two unaccompanied children and two women, as well as the missing people came from Iran, Syria and Iraq, they said.

“In the first shipwreck, it is estimated that ten people lost their lives due to asphyxiation on the lower deck of the boat in which they were travelling” and “51 survivors were taken to (the island of) Lampedusa (southern Italy) by the sailing boat Nadir of the NGO Resqship, which rescued them from the wooden boat that had set sail from Libya,” according to UNHCR, IOM and UNICEF.

The NGO said they had to free the migrants with an axe, as they were trapped at the bottom of the boat, along with the 10 bodies.

More than 800 dead in the Mediterranean

“If these figures are confirmed, the number of dead and missing in the Mediterranean would rise to more than 800, an average of almost 5 dead and missing per day since the beginning of the year,” said the UN agencies, which again called for more “resources and capabilities” in “support of the Italian Coast Guard.”

In addition to the urgent need for European support for search and rescue operations, it is essential to promote greater access to safe and regular routes in the European Union for migrants and refugees, so that they are not forced to risk their lives at sea.

“Every shipwreck represents a collective failure, a failure that is a tangible sign of the inability of States to protect the most vulnerable people,” they said.

So far this year, up to June 14, 23,235 migrants have reached Italian shores, compared to 55,662 in the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.