Italian coast guard says dozens dead after migrant craft crashes off coast, alleged human trafficker charged

Search and rescue efforts continued Sunday aft a makeshift woody vessel carrying much than a 100 migrants collapsed into nan rocky reefs disconnected nan coast of confederate Italy earlier dawn. 

The decease toll climbed to astatine slightest 60 people, nan Italian outlet Tgr Rai Calabria reported. 

The Italian Coast Guard antecedently said astatine slightest 43 migrants perished, while astatine slightest 80 others were recovered alive. 

Manuela Curra, a provincial authorities official, told Reuters nan trade near Izmir successful eastbound Turkey 3 aliases 4 days agone pinch betwixt 140 and 150 group aboard. She added that astir of those who survived nan clang were from Afghanistan, arsenic good arsenic a fewer from Pakistan and a mates from Somalia. The nationalities of nan deceased were not instantly confirmed. 

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Rescuers retrieve a assemblage aft a migrant vessel collapsed isolated successful unsmooth seas, astatine a formation adjacent Cutro, confederate Italy, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.  (AP Photo/Giuseppe Pipita)

Guardia di Finanza, customs constabulary successful Italy, said 1 of nan survivors has been arrested connected migrant trafficking charges, according to Reuters. 

Video shared by nan Italian Coast Guard showed wreckage from nan woody gullet, a Turkish sailing boat, washed up onto nan beach. Rescue boats were seen successful nan h2o disconnected Crotone, a larboard metropolis successful Calabria, confederate Italy, and nan seashore defender besides shared footage of a chopper flying complete nan washed-up debris successful hunt of survivors. 

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Crews retrieve a assemblage adjacent Cutro, confederate Italy, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.  (AP Photo/Giuseppe Pipita)

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Women and children were among nan dead, Cutro's mayor, Antonio Ceraso, said, according to Reuters. He told SkyTG24 news transmission that he had seen "a spectacle that you would ne'er want to spot successful your life," describing "a gruesome show ... that stays pinch you for each your life."

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said that nan migrants were crowded into a 66-foot-long vessel successful "adverse upwind conditions." In a connection released by her office, she expressed "her heavy sorrow for nan galore quality lives torn distant by quality traffickers."

Dozens of migrants died aft a vessel collapsed isolated successful unsmooth seas disconnected nan seashore of Cutro, confederate Italy, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.  (AP Photo/Giuseppe Pipita)

"It's inhumane to speech nan lives of men, women and children for nan ‘price’ of a summons paid by them successful nan mendacious imaginable for a safe voyage," Meloni, a far-right-wing leader whose governing friends see nan League party, which prioritizes separator information and combating forbidden immigration.

She vowed to usage her activity to property for crackdowns connected departures arranged by quality smugglers and to property chap European Union leaders to thief Italy successful her quest.

Rescuers scrambled to find survivors aft a vessel carrying astir 150 migrants collapsed into rocky reefs adjacent Cutro, confederate Italy, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.  (AP Photo/Giuseppe Pipita)

Meloni has supported stricter laws overseeing NGO's and charities catering to migrants, arguing nan groups incentivize vulnerable oversea crossings. Those laws reportedly won parliamentary support Thursday. In a statement, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said specified oversea crossings connection migrants an "illusory mirage of a amended life" successful Europe, enriching traffickers and contributing to these tragedies, according to Reuters. 

Rescued migrants covered successful blankets, beryllium astatine a formation adjacent Cutro, confederate Italy, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.  (AP Photo/Giuseppe Pipita)

A chunk of nan boat, on pinch piles of splintered wood, littered nan formation astatine Steccato di Cutro, portion of Calabria's coastline on nan Ionian sea. Some of nan survivors tried to support warm, wrapped successful what appeared to beryllium colorful blankets aliases sheets.

A chopper and motorboats were deployed successful hunt efforts, including vessels from authorities firefighters, separator constabulary and nan seashore guard.

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A Coast Guard motorboat rescued 2 men suffering from hypothermia and recovered nan assemblage of a boy successful nan unsmooth seas, it said successful a statement. Firefighter boats, including rescue divers, recovered 28 bodies, including 3 pulled by a beardown existent acold distant from nan wreckage.

Shoes seen among nan wreckage of a migrant vessel washed ashore astatine a formation adjacent Cutro, confederate Italy, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.  (AP Photo/Giuseppe Pipita)

The Italian news agency AGI said that among nan bodies was that of a babe a fewer months old.

Pope Francis on Sunday lamented that children were among nan shipwreck victims.

"I believe for each of them, for nan missing and nan different migrants who survived," Francis told nan religious successful St. Peter's Square.

Debris and different wreckage from a migrant vessel seen astatine a formation adjacent Cutro, confederate Italy, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.  (AP Photo/Giuseppe Pipita)

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The pontiff added he besides was praying for nan rescuers "and for those who springiness welcome" to nan migrants.

"It's an tremendous tragedy," Crotone Mayor Vincenzo Voce told RAI authorities TV.

"In solidarity, nan metropolis will find places successful nan cemetery" for nan dead, Voce said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.