On Sunday, February 26th, 2023, at least 33 people, including a newborn baby, died in a shipwreck as they tried to land on a beach in rough seas off the coast of Italy’s Calabria region. The boat was carrying an estimated 250 people from Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan before it crashed into the rocks. Fifty people have been rescued so far. The vessel is believed to have departed from Turkey. Many of the victims were reported to have washed up on a tourist beach near Steccato di Cutro, while others were found at sea.

Italy’s fire service wrote on Twitter that 28 bodies had been recovered early on Sunday morning. The wreck of the boat was reportedly seen by a fisherman early on Sunday, and the Italian coastguard, firefighters, police, and Red Cross rescue workers attended the scene. According to Rai News, the boat “snapped in two,” and those onboard “didn’t have time to ask for help.”

The central Mediterranean route, which Italy is one of the main landing points for, is known as one of the world’s most dangerous. More than 100,000 refugees arrived in Italy by boat in 2022. The current rightwing government imposed tough measures against sea rescue charities, including fining them up to €50,000 if they flout a requirement to request a port and sail to it immediately after undertaking one rescue instead of remaining at sea to rescue people from other boats in difficulty. Charities had warned that the measure would lead to thousands of deaths.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her “deep sorrow” for the lives lost while repeating her government’s commitment to “preventing departures and along with them the tragedies that unfold.” She said her government would demand “maximum collaboration” with the countries of migrants’ departure and origin.

Matteo Piantedosi, Italy’s interior minister, called the shipwreck a “huge tragedy” that “grieves me deeply” and insisted that it was “essential to continue with every possible initiative to prevent departures [of migrants].” According to the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants project, 20,333 people have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean since 2014.