at least 43 migrants died in shipwreck off Calabria

At least 43 migrants died after their boat sank off Crotone, in southern Italy, the coast guard announced on Sunday February 26. “At present, 80 people have been recovered alive, some of whom have managed to reach the shore”, they added in a press release. They said the craft was carrying around 120 people and broke on the rocks a few meters off shore. The firefighters evoke, them, “more than 200 people” aboard the boat.

“Calabria is in mourning for this terrible tragedy”, reacted the president of the region. He lamented “dozens and dozens of drowned, including children, many missing”.

Giorgia Meloni promises to continue her immigration policy

This latest shipwreck comes days after the Italian parliament passed controversial new rules on rescuing migrants. This law obliges humanitarian ships to carry out only one rescue at a time, which NGOs say increases the risk of death in the Mediterranean. This text was adopted on the initiative of the coalition government led by far-right leader Giorgia Meloni.

The leader of the Fratelli d’Italia party was appointed prime minister in October, after notably promising to reduce the number of migrants arriving in Italy. She shares her “deep pain” after the shipwreck off Calabria. She judged “criminal to put a boat barely 20 meters into the sea with 200 people on board and a bad weather forecast”. “The government is committed to preventing departures, and with them this kind of tragedy, and will continue to do so.”assured Giorgia Meloni. According to the Interior Ministry, nearly 14,000 of them have arrived in the country since the start of the year, compared to around 5,200 during the same period in 2022.