Grief-stricken relatives of the people who died in a shipwreck off the southern coast of Italy have travelled to the Calabrian town of Crotone, where the coffins of the victims have been laid out in a sports hall.
Officials announced on Wednesday that the body of another child had been found, bringing the death toll in the tragedy to 67.
The relatives, some of whom had come from Germany, Austria and the Netherlands – countries where their family members had hoped to join them – were comforted by charity workers as they broke down in tears by the coffins of their loved ones.
Twenty-eight of the people who died after the wooden boat they were on sank in rough seas off the coast of Steccato di Cutro early on Sunday morning have been officially identified. Their coffins were marked with their names and ages, while those containing the bodies of the victims so far unidentified were labelled with a number and their sex.
Eighty people, of whom 22 remain in hospital, survived the shipwreck, although officials believe that up to 200 may have been onboard the vessel. Called Summer Love, the boat had departed from Turkey four days earlier and was carrying people from countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and Iraq.
Pakistani media reported that Shahida Raza, a member of the Pakistan women’s hockey team, was among the dead.
Hadi, a 12-year-old from Afghanistan, was among the 16 children so far confirmed to have died. “Hadi had nobody,” his uncle Misan, who had travelled from Amsterdam, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. “His parents died some time ago, this is why he had decided to come to me.”
Alladin Mohibzada, from Afghanistan, lost his aunt and three cousins. “They didn’t want to stay in Italy, they wanted to join me [in Germany],” he told the Italian daily La Repubblica. Mohibzada said his uncle, who along with another cousin survived the shipwreck, called him shortly before 4am on Sunday to say they had almost arrived.
The boat was only 3 metres from the shore in Steccato di Cutro, a hamlet with a population of about 450 and a popular beach destination in summer, when the tragedy occurred. Bodies were found washed up on the beach, while others were recovered from the sea. As rescuers continued their search on Wednesday, the body of a girl was found.
Mara Eliana Tunno, a psychologist with Médecins Sans Frontières, has been assisting survivors in identifying the bodies of their relatives. She said a shipwreck survivor from Afghanistan lost his wife and three children, the youngest five years old, and that an Afghan woman went into a severe shock after discovering her son was among the victims.
A 16-year-old Afghan girl who fled persecution by the Taliban and who had made the journey to Europe alone was still missing. “She had called home at around 4am to say she was safe and close to Italy,” said Tunno. “Her uncle came from Germany to look for her and fainted as he looked at photos of the bodies.
“He also doesn’t know how to tell her mother that he can’t find her. More and more people are coming to Crotone and we are receiving many calls and messages from people searching for their relatives. The situation is very tragic; many bodies have not yet been identified and many are still missing.”
Three alleged people smugglers have been arrested after the shipwreck as controversy mounts in Italy over whether more could have been done to prevent it.
The vessel was seen about 45 miles (74km) off the Italian coast by a plane operated by the EU border and coastguard agency, Frontex, on Saturday night, but patrol boats sent to intercept it were returned to port because of bad weather. Police then mobilised a squad to search the coastline. The Crotone port authority commander Vittorio Aloi told reporters on Wednesday that all the correct procedures were followed.
