CROTONE, Italy—Rescuers recovered four more bodies on Monday, a day after a wooden sailboat carrying migrants to Europe smashed onto rocks in stormy weather off southern Italy, bringing the death toll to 63, including at least 14 children.
Rescuers said most of the migrants came from Afghanistan, as well as from Iran, Somalia, Syria, and elsewhere. Pakistan’s foreign ministry said 20 Pakistani citizens were on the boat, with four missing and 16 survivors of the nighttime shipwreck.
Many of the victims washed ashore close to where the vessel sank near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria, while some of the bodies were recovered from the sea.
“We met a survivor who fled Afghanistan with his sister to escape the Taliban. She did not survive,” said Sergio Di Dato, a project coordinator with charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
MSF is offering psychological support to survivors, including a 12-year-old boy from Afghanistan who lost all nine family members who were traveling with him, including his parents and four siblings.
Local authorities said 81 people survived the disaster, but between 180 to 200 people were believed to have boarded the vessel when it left from Izmir in western Turkey, suggesting many more passengers may have perished or be missing.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in an interview she wrote to European Union institutions calling for immediate action by the bloc to stop migrant boat trips so as to prevent more deaths.
“The more people depart, the more risk dying,” she told RAI public television. “The only way to tackle this issue seriously, with humanity, is to stop the departures.”
