ROME – At least 58 people were killed in a migrant shipwreck off the east coast of Italy’s Calabria region, an Italian news agency reported on Sunday.
About 140 people are on board, and at least 28 of the illegal immigrants are believed to be Pakistanis. Among the dead were a baby and several children.
A ship carrying migrants from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan crashed into rocks in rough seas.
The Italian Coast Guard, who was reportedly at the scene along with firefighters and other police units, was not immediately available for comment. Italy is one of the main landing points for migrants trying to enter Europe by sea. The so-called Central Mediterranean route is considered one of the most dangerous routes in the world.
According to the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project, 20,333 of her people have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean since 2014.
