At least 43 killed as migrant boat breaks apart off Italy

Some of the wreckage ended up on a stretch of beach along Calabria's Ionian Sea coast, where splinted pieces of bright blue wood littered the sand like matchsticks.

At least 43 migrants died when their overcrowded wooden boat smashed into rocky reefs and broke apart off southern Italy before dawn Sunday, the Italian coast guard said. Survivors reportedly indicated that dozens more could be missing.

“As of now, 80 persons were recovered alive, some of whom succeeded in reaching the shore after the shipwreck. and 43 bodies were found along the shore,” the coast guard said in a statement issued shortly before noon.

Italian state TV later reported 45 cloth-covered bodies were brought to the sports stadium in the nearest city, Crotone.

There were also various estimates of how many people were aboard the boat when it collided with the reefs in violently rough seas. Some of the wreckage ended up on a stretch of beach along Calabria’s Ionian Sea coast, where splinted pieces of bright blue wood littered the sand like matchsticks.

Reporting from the village of Steccato di Cutro, state TV quoted survivors as saying the boat had set out five days earlier from Turkey with more than 200 passengers.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said some 200 migrants had been crowded into a 20-meter (66-foot) -long boat.

Italy’s coast guard, which was coordinating the rescue, said about 120 migrants were believed to have been on board.

Italian authorities said a rescue operation involving a helicopter and police aircraft, and vessels from state firefighter squads, the coast guard and border police, was underway Sunday. Local fishermen also joined in the search for survivors.