Italy: Forty migrants died in the sinking of their boat

Dozens of migrants, including children, died when their boat sank near the Italian town of Crotonein Calabria (Italy), on the morning of Sunday 26 February. “The boat was very close to Calabria, a region in southwestern Italy, when it smashed against the rocks due to particularly rough seas. According to several sources on site, the passengers did not have time to ask for help, and it was a fisherman who gave the alert shortly before 5am in the morning”explains journalist Raphaële Schapiralive from Rome (Italy).

80 shipwreck survivors

“For now, the authorities have counted around forty victims, including children and a newborn baby a few weeks old, and 80 people who survived this shipwreck. According to these survivors, there were more than 200 aboard the boat. Migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran believed to have boarded from Turkey”says Raphaële Schapira.