More than 100 migrants are feared to have died in another Mediterranean tragedy after their boat was wrecked in rough seas off the coast of the southern Italian region of Calabria.

Published 2 years ago

Source:  BBC

The vessel, thought to have been carrying more than 200 people broke apart while trying to land near Crotone in the Calabria region of southern Italy on Sunday February 26, according to a news report from the BBC.

According to monitoring groups, more than 20,000 people have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean since 2014.

People from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Iran were said to be on board the vessel which had apparently sailed from Turkey several days before.

The boat sunk after it crashed against rocks during rough weather.  The Italian coastguard said 80 people had been found alive, “including some who managed to reach the shore after the sinking”, meaning many more remain unaccounted for.

“This is yet another tragedy happening near our shores. It reminds us all that the Mediterranean is a giant mass grave, with tens of thousands of souls in it, and it continues to widen,” said Francesco Creazzo, from SOS Méditerranée, an NGO engaged in rescue operations in the central Mediterranean.

“There is no end in sight; in 2013, people said ‘never again’ to the little white coffins of Lampedusa, in 2015, they said ‘never again’ in front of the lifeless body of a two-year-old Syrian child on a beach.

“Now the words ‘never again’ are not even pronounced any more. We only hear ‘no more departures’, but unfortunately people keep venturing on this journey and they keep dying,” he added.

Another Tragedy Earlier in the Month

Earlier in the month, at least 73 migrants were presumed dead after their boat sank off the Libyan coast, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).  That boat was heading to Europe on a route the IOM has called “the world’s deadliest migratory sea crossing”.

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• Related News:
  
• Italy Migrant Boat Shipwreck:  More than 100 People Feared Dead (BBC)
  
• Mediterranean Cruising Update:  Regarding the Migrant Crisis (Noonsite)
  
• Libya Shipwreck:  At Least 73 Migrants Presumed Dead (BBC)
  
• Migrant Crisis:  More Small Boats Crossing the English Channel (Noonsite)
  

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Related Links:

• Migration Policy Institute
  
• Migrants at Sea:  The Dos and Don’ts of Helping those in Distress (Yachting Monthly)
  
• Other Migrant reports on Noonsite
  

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Noonsite has not independently verified this information.

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