Migrant boat carrying Afghans sinks off Italy, leaving 45 dead

Forty-five people died, including some children, when a wooden sailing boat carrying migrants crashed against rocks on the southern Italian coast early on Sunday, authorities said.

The vessel had set sail from Turkey several days ago with migrants from Afghanistan, Iran and several other countries, and crashed in stormy weather near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria, Reuters reported.

Eighty-one people survived, with 22 of them taken to hospital, Manuela Curra, a provincial government official, said.

One survivor was arrested on migrant trafficking charges, the Guardia di Finanza customs police said.

Cutro’s mayor, Antonio Ceraso, said women and children were among the dead.

Curra said the vessel left Izmir in eastern Turkey three or four days ago, adding that survivors had said some 140 to 150 were on board.

The survivors were mostly from Afghanistan, as well as a few from Pakistan and a couple from Somalia, she said, adding that identifying the nationalities of the dead was harder.

“Many of these migrants came from Afghanistan and Iran, fleeing conditions of great hardship”, Italian President Sergio Mattarella said.