On Tuesday, rescuers recovered a man’s body from a migrant shipwreck off southern Italy, bringing the death toll to 64, including 14 children.
“We will keep scouring the waters until we find everyone,” said fire department underwater diver Rocco Mortato.
The sailboat sank early Sunday in strong waves near Steccato di Cutro, a coastal town on Calabria’s eastern coast. Eighty passengers were rescued. The ship left Izmir, Turkey.
Rescuers reported most migrants were from Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, and Syria.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said 16 of 20 Pakistanis on the boat escaped, while four were missing.
The tragedy sparked a migration discussion in Europe and Italy. The newly elected right-wing government’s stringent new regulations for migrant rescue NGOs have garnered UN and international condemnation.
In an interview on Monday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni claimed she has written to EU institutions urging them to stop migrant boat journeys to save additional fatalities.
“The more people go, the more risk dying,” she told RAI public television. Stopping departures is the only way to address this issue humanely.
