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MIGRANT CRISIS

Over 1,000 migrants brought to safety at Italian ports: coastguard

More than 1,000 migrants were brought to safety at two Italian ports after the overcrowded boats they were on encountered problems in the Mediterranean, the coastguard said Saturday.

Over 1,000 migrants brought to safety at Italian ports: coastguard
Italian coastguard officers standing near a body recovered after a migrant boat shipwreck February 27, 2023 near the Le Castella beach in Isola di Capo Rizzuto, south of Crotone. (Photo by Alessandro SERRANO / AFP)

The rescues came the same day as a body was discovered of the 74th victim of the deadly shipwreck nearly two weeks ago — that of a female child between five and six years of age, according to news agency AGI.

The February 26th shipwreck, which occurred just off the shore of Calabria, has drawn sharp criticism of the right-wing government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for its failure to intervene timely to save the boat.

The coastguard said Saturday it was wrapping up a large rescue operation that began Friday after three boats were spotted drifting off Italy’s coasts.

One was south of the Calabrian city of Crotone and two further south off Roccella Ionica.

Coastguard videos showed a large fishing boat pitching violently back and forth in nightime rough seas with dozens of people visible on the deck. Other images showed inflatable rescue boats approaching another fishing vessel
packed with people. Those 487 migrants onboard the first boat were safely brought to the port of Crotone at about 3:00 am Saturday morning, the coastguard said.

Another rescue operation in which 500 migrants were brought to safety aboard a coastguard ship was wrapping up, it said. News agency ANSA had earlier reported that the ship had docked at the port of Reggio Calabria.

A third boat carrying 379 people was rescued by two coastguard patrol boats and the migrants transferred to a Navy ship headed to the Sicilian port of Augusta, it said.

Italy’s defence ministry said it had begun to air transfers of migrants away from the crowded migrant centre on the island of Lampedusa, which it said was now over capacity.

The recent shipwreck has put the government on the defensive. On Thursday, Meloni held a cabinet meeting at Cutro, near the disaster site, and announced a new decree that included stiffer prison sentences for human traffickers, but no new measures to help save lives.

Her far-right Brothers of Italy party, which won elections last year, had promised to curb arrivals, but Italy has recently seen a sharp rise in the number of migrants attempting to reach its shores via the dangerous Mediterranean crossing.

The interior ministry says more than 17,500 people have arrived by sea so far this year — almost three times the number for the same period last year.

READ ALSO: Italian PM vows to crack down on traffickers at migrant shipwreck site

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MIGRANT CRISIS

Italy migrant shipwreck toll at 34 as more bodies found

Italy's coastguard said Friday it had found another 14 bodies after a migrant shipwreck off the southern coast earlier this week, taking the confirmed death toll to 34.

Italy migrant shipwreck toll at 34 as more bodies found

More than 60 people had been reported missing after the sailing boat sank off the coast of Calabria overnight Sunday-Monday, with 11 people rescued.

“Today 14 bodies were recovered.. a total of 34 bodies have been recovered,” the coastguard said in a statement.

It said air and sea searches continued for the missing.

The coastguard had on Thursday reported another 12 bodies had been found, including women and children.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said earlier this week that survivors had reported 66 people missing, including at least 26 children.

They had set off from Turkey and sank around 120 nautical miles off the coast of Calabria. Afghan families were among the missing, MSF said.

Ten bodies were found in a separate shipwrecked migrant boat on Monday off the Italian island of Lampedusa, according to German aid group ResQship.

Some 3,155 migrants died or disappeared in the Mediterranean last year, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.

More than 1,000 have died or are missing so far this year.

The Central Mediterranean — the area between North Africa and Italy and Malta — is the deadliest known migration route in the world, accounting for 80 percent of the deaths and disappearances in the Mediterranean.

Many migrants set off by boat from Tunisia or Libya, with Italy often their first port of call.

Arrivals have dropped considerably this year, with almost 24,500 people landing in Italy so far, compared to more than 58,600 in the same period in 2023, according to the interior ministry.

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