MM News

ROME: Pakistan’s Embassy in Italian capital Rome has said that bodies of 28 Pakistanis, who died when a wooden sailing boat carrying migrants to Europe crashed against rocks near the southern Italian coast early on Sunday, have been recovered.

اٹلی کے علاقے Calabriaمیں ایک کشتی ڈوبنے سے تقریبا 60افراد ہلاک ہوئے ہیں
ترکیہ سےاٹلی جانے کشتی سمندرمیں چٹان سے ٹکرا کر ڈوبی
اٹلی میں کشتی ڈوبنے کا واقعہ،28 پاکستانیوں کی لاشیں مل گئیں، پاکستانی سفارتخانے کی تصدیق
کشتی پرمبینہ طورپر40 پاکستانی سوارتھے،12لاپتہ ہیں،سفارتخانہ pic.twitter.com/yQYtGtcgHb

— MM News (@mmnewsdottv) February 27, 2023

The vessel, which sailed from Turkey and was carrying people from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and several other countries, sank in rough seas before dawn near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria.

Manuela Curra, a provincial government official, told media that 81 people had survived the shipwreck. Twenty of them were hospitalised, including one person in intensive care.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, who travelled to the scene, said 20-30 people might still be missing, amid reports from survivors that the boat had been carrying between 150 to 200 migrants.

In video footage released by police, chunks of wooden beams and boards could be seen lying next to a structure resembling a boat’s keel on the beach of Steccato di Cutro, a small seaside town on Calabria’s eastern coast. Italian news outlets showed survivors covered in thermal blankets sitting in a field near the beach, while a priest blessed the bodies of their dead companions, hidden under white bags nearby.

Pakistan’s Embassy said some 40 Pakistanis were on board the ship, out of which 12 were still missing.