Rome: There was a stir in Italy when two ships suddenly sank at sea. Yes, at least 11 migrants died after two ships sank in the sea off Italy, while 66 others are missing. It is feared that they too may have died. According to media reports, the Italian Coast Guard continued search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean until late Monday night, hours after the migrant boat suffered some malfunctions. A merchant ship first made an SOS call after spotting a boat in distress about 120 miles (193 km) off the coast of Calabria, southern Italy, prompting a rescue operation.
The merchant vessel rescued 12 people and assisted them until the arrival of an Italian coast guard vessel. According to the Coast Guard, one woman died shortly after disembarking, she was very ill. The Coast Guard said in a statement that the search is on for survivors after the boat capsized. The Coast Guard said two Italian patrol boats and an ATR42 aircraft were involved in the search and another patrol vessel with medical teams would soon join the search operation. No other survivors had been found as of late Monday evening.
According to local media, 66 people are feared dead, 26 of them minors. According to survivors, the boat left Turkey last week carrying migrants and refugees from Iraq, Syria, Iran and Afghanistan. Italian authorities have launched an investigation. The boat was trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea. In an earlier incident, 10 migrants died in a rescue ship with a German aid group rescue ship and managed to rescue 51 others on a boat near Malta, off Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa.
According to local media, the survivors were mainly from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt and Syria. The Italian Ministry of the Interior ordered the ship to dock in Lampedusa. Migrants traveling by boat in the Mediterranean face such dangerous conditions due to weather conditions and poor quality ships. So far this year, nearly a thousand people have died or gone missing while crossing the Mediterranean, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration. In 2023, 3,155 people went missing.
Tags: Boat accident, World news
First published: June 18, 2024, 08:14 IST