’80 Afghans died after their boat drowned in Italy sea’

ATLANTA (Pajhwok): Eighty Afghans, including women and children, have  lost their lives when their wooden boat drowned in the southern Italian sea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said on Wednesday.

MoFA Spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi on his twitter handle wrote: “With great sadness, we learned that 80 Afghan refugees, including women and children, who were traveling from Türkiye to Italy in a wooden boat, drowned and died in the southern sea of ​​Italy.”

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan urged all citizens once again to avoid going to foreign countries through irregular migration.

MoFA called on charitable organisations in particular on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to help find the bodies and transfer them back to their native places.

Meanwhile, Rescuers have so far confirmed at least 64 people were killed after a sailboat sank in heavy seas near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria. Eighty people had been rescued and more people were believed to be missing.

The boat had set sail from the port of Izmir in western Turkey. The UN refugee agency has said almost half of arrivals by sea between Turkey and Italy last year were Afghans.

JHK/nh

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