It's believed that more than 100 people, including children, died when their boat capsized due to turbulent sea waves off southern Italy.
Not fewer than 62 migrants are confirmed to
have died including a newborn.
When ship carrying 200 people broke apart while
trying to land near Crotone on Sunday.
It was said that passengers on board included
people Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
Bodies were recovered from the beach at a
nearby seaside resort in the Calabria region. Seaside resort located near the
Calabria.
The coastguards reported finding 80 people
alive after the ship was damaged and sank. One group of survivors reached dry
land after the incident. However, many more remain unaccounted for.
Customs police arrested one survivor on
charges of migrant trafficking.
According to Shehbaz Sharif, over twenty
Pakistanis died on the ship.
Many of those on board were thought to be
from Pakistan. Its Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said more than two
dozen Pakistanis were believed to have been among the dead.
As assistance and relocation operations
continue, a group of survivors of the deadly shipwreck are struggling to come
to terms with the loss of their loved ones.
At a temporary reception centre in the town
of Isola di Capo Rizzuto, some of them were crying without speaking, some were
just staring into the void, wrapped in blankets.
"They are heavily traumatised,"
said Sergio Di Dato, from charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). "Some
children have lost their whole family. We are offering them all the support we
can."
A 16-year-old boy from Afghanistan lost his
28-year-old sister, who died on the beach next to him. He can't find the strength
to tell his parents.
A 43-year-old man from Afghanistan survived
with his 14-year-old son, but his wife and his three other children, who were
13, nine, and five did not make it. Another Afghan woman in tears would not
move from the beach after losing her husband.
"This is yet another tragedy happening
near our shores. It reminds us all that the Mediterranean is a giant mass
grave, with tens of thousands of souls in it, and it continues to widen,"
said Francesco Creazzo, from SOS Méditerranée, an NGO engaged in rescue
operations in the central Mediterranean.
"There is no end in sight; in 2013,
people said 'never again' to the little white coffins of Lampedusa, in 2015,
they said 'never again' in front of the lifeless body of a two-year-old Syrian
child on a beach.
"Now the words 'never again' are not
even pronounced any more. We only hear 'no more departures', but unfortunately
people keep venturing on this journey and they keep dying," he added.
Speaking at the UN's Human Rights Council in
Geneva on Monday morning, Secretary General António Guterres called on
countries to do more to help refugees and migrants, and for safer travel routes
and strengthened rescue operations.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni -
elected last year partly on a pledge to stem the flow of migrants into Italy -
on Sunday expressed "deep sorrow" and blamed the deaths on
traffickers.
"It is inhumane to exchange the lives of
men, women and children for the price of the 'ticket' they paid in the false
perspective of a safe journey," she said.
"The government is committed to
preventing departures, and with them the unfolding of these tragedies, and will
continue to do so."
Ms Meloni's right-wing government has vowed
to stop migrants reaching Italy's shores and in the last few days pushed
through a tough new law tightening the rules on rescues.
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