Rome (EFE).- The Italian authorities have located this morning the body of another child, bringing to 69 the number of fatalities, 15 of them minors, recovered from the shipwreck that occurred last Sunday off the coast of Crotone (Calabria , Southern Italy).
Firefighters working in the search found the body in an area of the beach near where the tragedy occurred, to which the little boy had been returned driven by the waves, according to local media.
So far, 56 of the 69 bodies found have been identified, mostly Afghan, Iranian, Pakistani and Syrian, while they search for between 27 and 47 missing, so it is feared that the final death toll will exceed one hundred while 81 people were rescued alive.
The Rescue Coordination Center centralizes the search efforts, “which will continue until the end,” the Crotone Prefecture said in a statement on Friday.
Air, naval and diving units participate in them, as well as ground personnel from the Coast Guard, Police Headquarters, Carabineros, Finance Guard, Firefighters and regional Civil Protection.
Procedures for the repatriation of bodies
It was also reported that the procedures for the repatriation of some of the bodies will begin shortly, with the presentation of the requests by the families of the victims in the City Hall of nearby Cutro.
The shipwreck, investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office, occurred at dawn last Sunday when the wooden barge in which some 180 migrants had set sail from Turkey, according to the survivors, sank off the Calabrian coast, in a very rough sea.
One aspect of the investigation by the Crotone Prosecutor’s Office focuses on the operations of the security forces in the hours prior to the shipwreck and the Carabinieri have been asked to recover the documents related to the activity of the Coast Guard and the Guard of Finance after the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, notified them of the presence of the vessel on Saturday night.
The different versions of Frontex and the Italian security forces have sown doubts about whether the tragedy could have been avoided and the new leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, has called for the resignation of the Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, who is very close to the far-right. Matteo Salvini, Vice President of the Government.
One of the most criticized points is the decision not to consider the event as a relief operation from the outset, which is why initially only a small device was activated with the intention of contacting the ship and several hours passed without the boat being attended to. , according to the story released by the Italian law enforcement agencies.
