Italian President Sergio Mattarella said that action must be taken after yet another migrant tragedy hit Italy last week following a shipwreck off the Calabrian coast.
70 individuals, including 16 kids are believed to have perished in the shipwreck, and authorities indicate that many more are still missing and presumed dead.
Mattarella visited survivors at a local hospital, handing out toys to children.”When faced with the terrible tragedy that took place on the coast of Calabria, condolences must convert into concrete, operative decisions by everyone, by Italy and the EU, so that this becomes the genuine response,” Mattarella said as he started the academic year at the University of Basilicata.
Meanwhile, Italian prosecutors are looking into the way emergency services responded to last weekend’s migrant boat disaster in which dozens of people were killed after accusations that authorities were slow to react, a police source said.
Prosecutors from the Calabrian town of Crotone have asked the Guardia di Finanza police for documents on their actions before the boat carrying 150-200 migrants broke up on rocks just a few metres from the shore last Sunday. The same request has been made to the Coast Guard, Italian media reported.
via Ansa (with additional content relating to the investigation by Reuters)
