KRG confirms efforts to find victims of sunken yacht off Italian coast
She added, "According to the Italian government, there were 67 people on board the yacht, most of whom are missing. Eleven people were rescued and are currently receiving treatment in Italian hospitals, and the bodies of four passengers have been found."
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representation in Italy has confirmed that the exact number of victims and passengers of the yacht that sank off the coast of Italy is still unknown. Efforts are ongoing to locate the bodies of those who were on board.
Rezan Hama Salih, the KRG representative in Italy, told Kurdistan 24 on Thursday, “The number of victims and passengers who were on board the sunken yacht off the coast of Italy has not yet been confirmed.”
She added, "According to the Italian government, there were 67 people on board the yacht, most of whom are missing. Eleven people were rescued and are currently receiving treatment in Italian hospitals, and the bodies of four passengers have been found."
The KRG Representation in Italy stated, "We are in constant contact with the Italian government and the concerned authorities, and we are doing our best to find the bodies of the other passengers who were on board the boat. The Italian government has begun an investigation into the accident."
Salih explained, "The sunken yacht was 200 kilometers from the Italian border, and the passengers remained at sea for several days after their boat sank. No one came to their rescue until a boat found them and rescued them."
Journalist Shorsh Aziz Surmi, during an interview on Kurdistan 24, confirmed that the migrant boat, which had several Kurds on board, “was close to the coast of Calabria when they felt a fire in the engine, which caused it to sink.”
He added, "The boat was carrying 70 people, but it was only designed to accommodate up to 25 passengers. The boats used to transport migrants are very old and do not meet any safety requirements."
Surmi confirmed that 36 Kurds, including 26 children, “were on the boat,” noting that searches for their bodies “are still ongoing.”
He pointed out that several cruise ships "passed near the boat when it was sinking but refused to provide assistance to the migrants."
He concluded, "European countries' policies towards immigrants are very strict."
Kurdistan 24's correspondent in Italy, Awara Hawrami, met with a number of survivors of the migrant boat sinking off the Italian coast.
In an Italian hospital, a survivor told Kurdistan 24 that 76 people were on the boat, most of them Kurds from southern and eastern Kurdistan, along with two Afghan families.
He added that 27 children and a pregnant woman were on board the boat and remained at sea for five days after it sank, until the Italian Coast Guard came to their rescue.
Another survivor, Ako Qazizadeh, said that the smugglers "did not provide drinking water on the boat, which was old and taking on water, causing part of it to sink and some passengers to drown."
"By the time of the rescue, 12 people had survived and another had died during the operation. Only 11 of the 76 people on board the boat survived," he added.
Other survivors spoke to Kurdistan 24's correspondent about their poor psychological state after losing the people closest to them in the incident.
