The dead increase to 62 after the capsizing of a ship with about 200 migrants off the coast of Italy

MADRID, 27 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The death toll from the sinking on Sunday of a ship with nearly 200 migrants on board near the coast of the Italian region of Calabria, in the south of the country, has risen to 62, as confirmed by the authorities on Monday.

According to information collected by the Italian news agency AdnKronos, in the last few hours two other bodies have been found in the area by search and rescue teams, which continue to work in the waters of Steccato di Cutro, in the municipality of Crotona.

Around 50 people have been rescued at this point and 22 of them are hospitalized, half of them minors, and one in very serious condition, while probably more than a hundred are still missing in what could be one of the worst tragedies in the recent history of the migration crisis.

The Italian rescue services estimate that there were about 180 migrants on board the boat at the time of the shipwreck, but some of the survivors raise the number to 250 occupants, according to the newspaper 'Il Messaggero'.

After the event, the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, who has promised to toughen the laws against illegal migration, has affirmed that her government "is committed to avoiding this kind of tragedies, by demanding above all the full collaboration of the countries of departure". "It is criminal that a ship with 200 people on board ends up sailing in such adverse conditions and it is inhumane to exchange the lives of men, women and children in exchange for a 'ticket' under the false expectation of a safe voyage", she has settled. .