At least 12 children, including a newborn, and 33 women drowned as the death toll from a migrant shipwreck off Italy’s southern coast rose to 59.
“As of a few minutes ago, the number of confirmed casualties was 59,” Vincenzo Voce, the mayor of the coastal city of Crotone, told Sky TG-24 on Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, more than two dozen Pakistanis are among the dead, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed on Monday.
“Reports of the deaths of more than two dozen Pakistanis in a boating tragedy in Italy are deeply worrying and alarming,” Sharif said in a statement.
“I have instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish the facts as early as possible and gain the confidence of the nation,” he added.
The foreign ministries of Pakistan and Afghanistan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
At least 81 people survived Sunday’s crash, with 20 hospitalized, including one in intensive care, according to local sources.
“Terrible tragedy”
The Italian Coast Guard said the overloaded ship had crashed into heavy waves off Crotone, and one officer said security forces had arrested a suspected human smuggler.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), wooden debris was scattered about 100 meters (330 feet) of the beach, where many lifeguards were deployed.
Rescuers told AFP that there were “more than 200 people” on board.
“Calabria is in mourning after this terrible tragedy,” said regional governor Roberto Occhiuto.
Far-right Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, who took office in October, vowed to stop the flow of migrants reaching Italian shores, saying “the government is committed to preventing the departure (of migrant boats) and with it similar tragedies.”
“Another horrific shipwreck has claimed the lives of dozens of people, including children, this time off the coast of Italy,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres tweeted.
“I say again: every person who strives for a better life deserves security and dignity. We need safe, legal routes for migrants and refugees.”
“Eradicate Causes”
President Sergio Mattarella said: “A large number of these migrants have come from Afghanistan and Iran, fleeing very harsh conditions.”
He called on the international community to “make a firm commitment to eradicate the causes of these migrations – war, persecution, terrorism, poverty.”
The government in Rome has accused its European Union partners of not taking in enough migrants seeking to join the bloc.
Meloni’s right-wing coalition government pushed a controversial new law through Parliament this week that would require migrant relief charities to only do one life-saving operation at a time.
Critics say the measure violates international law and the reduction in the number of rescue boats able to operate will result in more people drowning in the central Mediterranean, considered the most dangerous crossing for asylum seekers in Europe.
On Sunday, the head of the United Nations and the European Commission called on countries to fairly agree on how to share responsibility for people fleeing conflict and poverty for what they hope will be a better life in Europe.
“It’s time for states to stop their disputes and agree on fair, effective, joint measures to avoid new tragedies,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for progress on the stalled reform of EU asylum rules.
“We must redouble our efforts on the (EU) Migration and Asylum Pact and on the Central Mediterranean Action Plan,” she said.
“Punished for saving a life”
Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, said it was “criminal to let a boat only 20 meters into the sea with 200 people on board and bad weather forecast.”
She demanded cooperation from the home countries of migrants and the states from which they are sent to dangerous sea passages.
Most people seeking to reach European shores cross the Mediterranean from Africa to Italy.
About 14,000 migrants arrived in Italy by sea this year, compared with 5,200 in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
Charities that rescue people in danger at sea bring only a small proportion of migrants ashore.
Most of those who were rescued were pulled from dangerous waters by the Italian coast guard or naval forces.
Despite this, Meloni’s government said rescue organizations encourage migrants to try to cross the border and increase the fortunes of traffickers.
On Thursday, Italian authorities confiscated a migrant rescue boat belonging to the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for allegedly violating a new law on life-saving missions in the Mediterranean.
“It is unacceptable to be punished for saving lives,” MSF said, adding that they are considering legal action.
“People in trouble at sea must be rescued at all costs, without punishing those who try to help them,” centrist former economy minister Carlo Calenda said Sunday.
Since 2014, the UN Missing Migrants Project has recorded more than 17,000 deaths and disappearances in the central Mediterranean. He estimates that more than 220 people have died or gone missing this year.
