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Rome: Eleven people have died after two boats sank off the southern coast of Italy, while more than 60 people are reported missing. These also include 26 children. All of them were migrants. This information has been given by aid groups, coast guard officials and United Nations agencies. One boat had left from Libya and the other from Turkey. There were people from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt and Syria in it.
RESQSHIP, the German aid group that operates the Nadir rescue boat, said it had rescued 51 people from the sinking wooden boat. Two of them were unconscious. 10 bodies were found trapped in the lower deck of the boat. The aid group said the survivors had been handed over to the Italian coast guard.
The second boat accident occurred about 200 kilometers east of the Italian region of Calabria. This boat had left from Turkey. But after the fire it capsized in the sea. 66 people are missing in this accident. A woman’s body has been found. Eleven people were rescued by the Italian Coast Guard.
Shakila Mohammadi, an employee of Doctors Without Borders Charity, said that survivors of the accident said that 66 people were missing. There are at least 26 children among them. Some children are only a few months old. An entire family from Afghanistan is feared dead in this accident. This family had left Turkey eight days ago. They didn’t even have life jackets.
This waterway of the Central Sea has become the most dangerous migration route in the world.
United Nations agencies said the migrants trapped in the second shipwreck had come from Iran, Syria and Iraq. This waterway of the Mediterranean Sea has become the most dangerous migration route in the world.
According to United Nations (UN) data, more than 23,500 migrants have lost their lives in this water area since 2014. Earlier this month, 11 bodies were found on the Libyan coast. Last year, a migrant boat sailing from Turkey collided with rocks near the town of Cutro in Calabria. 94 people were killed in this accident.
