51 Kurdish migrants rescued after boat sinks near Italian shore

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Dozens of Kurdish migrants survived a near-miss incident after their boat sank before reaching Italy’s shores, a Kurdish official said on Thursday.

The boat was carrying 52 Kurdish migrants leaving Greece to Italy’s Crotone Province, said the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR), Ari Jalal, in a statement. 

“The boat sank around four in the morning on Thursday, and all the migrants fell in the Mediterranean Sea,” Jalal stated.

The stranded migrants called for help, with the Italian police responding and rescuing most of them.

“Among the Kurdish migrants, six of them were women and four were children, including infants,” the Kurdish official added.

Jalal noted that the fate of one of the migrants remains unknown.

According to the Italian police, the missing migrant is “an Iraqi,” the Kurdish official said, but did not mention where he or she is from. 

After receiving food and humanitarian aid, the survivors were sent to Sant’Anna refugee camp in Crotone.

Editing by Nadia Riva