(Rome) The Italian coast guard announced Friday that it had found fourteen more bodies after the sinking of a migrant boat off the southern coast earlier this week, bringing the death toll to 34.
More than 60 people were missing after the sailboat sank off Calabria overnight, with 11 people rescued.
“Today, fourteen bodies were recovered…a total of thirty-four bodies were recovered,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
Air and sea searches continue to find the missing.
On Thursday, the coast guard said 12 more bodies had been found, including women and children.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said earlier this week that survivors had reported 66 people missing, including at least 26 children.
The boat, which left Turkey, sank approximately 120 nautical miles from the Calabrian coast. Afghan families are among the missing, according to MSF.
Ten bodies were found in another migrant boat that sank on Monday off the Italian island of Lampedusa, according to the German humanitarian organization ResQship.
The central Mediterranean is the deadliest migration route in the world and accounts for 80% of deaths and missing in the Mediterranean.
Many migrants leave Tunisia or Libya by boat for Europe, with Italy often being their first point of arrival.
Arrivals have fallen significantly since the start of the year, with 24,100 people landing in Italy so far, compared to more than 57,500 at the same time in 2023, according to the Interior Ministry.
