ROME — A boat sinking off the Italian coast on Monday left 10 migrants dead and dozens missing, international media reported.
France 24 reported that nearly 60 migrants were missing after a separate shipwreck off Calabria. Rescuers found 10 bodies below deck on a wooden boat off Lampedusa.
A German charity organization criticized the rescuers for being late. “A total of 61 people were on the wooden boat, which was full of water. Our crew was able to evacuate 51 people, two of whom were unconscious — they had to be cut free with an axe,” the charity said, according to France 24. “The 10 dead are in the flooded lower deck of the boat.”
The migrants reportedly included citizens of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of people have sought to leave the country through both legal and illegal means due to security and economic threats posed by the Taliban.
