A least 59 migrants including 28 Pakistanis, were killed and more than 81 were rescued Sunday when the human smuggling boat they were aboard slammed into the rocks off the coast of southern Italy and “disintegrated” just feet from the shoreline, officials said.
According to the Italian Coast Guard. Up to 150 migrants reportedly from, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and several other countries, ravaged recently by poverty, natural disasters, conflicts, and civil unrest were crammed aboard the 66-foot-long wooden boat when it crashed into a rocky shore of eastern Calabria, which forms the tip of Italy’s boot shape.
81 people had survived the shipwreck. Twenty of them were hospitalized, including one person in intensive care, and as many as 30 people may still be missing.
A baby thought to be only a few months old was among the dead, according to Italy’s Ansa news agency.
