At least 60 migrants are reportedly dead, and at least one allege human trafficker among some 80 survivors has been charged after a makeshift wooden vessel crashed off Italy's coast.
Rescuers recover a body after a migrant boat broke apart in rough seas, at a beach near Cutro, southern Italy, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.
Women and children were among the dead, Cutro's mayor, Antonio Ceraso, said, according to Reuters. He told SkyTG24 news channel that he had seen"a spectacle that you would never want to see in your life," describing"a gruesome sight ... that stays with you for all your life." "It's inhumane to exchange the lives of men, women and children for the ‘price’ of a ticket paid by them in the false prospect for a safe voyage," Meloni,whose governing allies include the League party, which prioritizes border security and combating illegal immigration.
Meloni has supported stricter laws overseeing NGO's and charities catering to migrants, arguing the groups incentivize dangerous sea crossings. Those laws reportedly won parliamentary approval Thursday. In a statement, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said such sea crossings offer migrants an"illusory mirage of a better life" in Europe, enriching traffickers and contributing to these tragedies, according to Reuters.
A helicopter and motorboats were deployed in search efforts, including vessels from state firefighters, border police and the coast guard. Shoes seen among the wreckage of a migrant boat washed ashore at a beach near Cutro, southern Italy, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.Pope Francis on"I pray for each of them, for the missing and the other migrants who survived," Francis told the faithful in St. Peter's Square.
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