Dozens of migrants die after boat breaks apart off Italian coast; 12 children among fatalities

Nearly five dozen migrants, including 12 children, were killed and scores more were missing after their boat broke apart on rocks and sank off southern Italy Sunday.

There were more than 170 migrants aboard the ship, including “children and entire families,” according to a joint statement from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Bodies washed ashore near the seaside resort of Steccato di Cutro, according to reports. As many as 80 people survived, all of them adults, Red Cross officials said, with 22 hospitalized.

Rescuers witnessed men holding children above their heads in the roiling seas, but the young victims later died, including a baby and young twins.

“Unfortunately, all the children are among the missing or were found dead on the beach,” said Red Cross volunteer Ignazio Mangione.

By sundown Sunday, 59 bodies had been recovered.

The vessel broke apart after smashing into reefs in the churning seas, with three huge pieces flung onto the beach near Steccato di Cutro. Responders included everyone from migrant charity organizations and the Italian Coast Guard to local fishermen.

“It is unacceptable to witness such horrors, with families and children entrusted to unseaworthy boats,” said Chiara Cardoletti, the UNHCR representative for Italy. “This tragedy must prompt us to act and act now.”

The 220-foot vessel had left Turkey five days earlier carrying people from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and other countries, the joint statement said. Also aboard were nationals from Iran, Reuters reported. The boat sank just before dawn near the eastern coast of Italy’s Calabrian region on the Ionian Sea.

“It’s an enormous tragedy,” Crotone Mayor Vincenzo Voce told Italian RAI state TV, adding that for the dead, “in solidarity, the city will find places in the cemetery.”

At least 220 people, including those who perished on Sunday, have died or gone missing along the central Mediterranean route this year alone, according to the IOM Missing Migrants Project.

“The tragic shipwreck off the coast of Crotone confirms the urgent need to strengthen the search and rescue system in the Med, and to open more regular migration channels,” the OIM Mediterranean office said. “This is not an emergency in terms of numbers, but a humanitarian emergency.”

With News Wire Services