It was about 5.30am on Sunday when Vincenzo Luciano rushed to the beach in Steccato di Cutro in Italy’s southern Calabria region after receiving a call from a fellow fisher who described seeing a boat breaking up in the waves.
“It was still dark, but when I arrived I could see many bodies on the beach, those of children too,” Luciano said. “Using the light from my phone I tried to find others in the sea. Nothing like this has ever happened on this stretch of coast before, and I hope it’s a memory I’m able to forget quickly.”
Sixty-two people, including 12 children, are so far confirmed to have died after the wooden boat sank in rough seas off Steccato di Cutro, a little village home to about 450 people and a popular tourist destination in summer. The boat had left the Turkish port of İzmir four days before, carrying people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, who were just metres away from the shore when the tragedy occurred.
On Saturday night the vessel was seen about 45 miles (74km) off the Italian coast by a plane operated by the EU’s border agency, Frontex, but patrol boats sent to intercept it were returned to port due to bad weather. Police said they then mobilised a squad to search the coastline.
Many of the bodies were found washed up on the beach, while others were recovered from the sea.
Remains of the 20-metre-long vessel were strewn along the coast on Monday, as were the belongings of its passengers, including shoes, rucksacks and a child’s pink rubber float.
Luciano was on the beach again early on Monday morning when he came across the body of another victim, believed to be a young man from Iraq. “I was driving up and down the beach in my Jeep when I saw him,” he said.
Antonella, who was walking along the beach with her friend Maria, said: “We’re all in shock. The beach is like a cemetery. Look at the sea – it’s beautiful, but deceptive.”
Eighty people survived, of whom 20 have been hospitalised, one in intensive care.
Two people, including a Turkish national, have been detained on suspicion of people smuggling. It is unclear how many were on the boat.
“Some survivors say there were 120 on board the boat; others say 200,” said Sergio Tedesco, commander of the local police force. “The numbers are difficult to establish, we just have to wait. Maybe when the sea is calmer it might return more bodies, even after a week.”
It is the deadliest migrant shipwreck to occur so close to the shore in Italy since 368 people lost their lives after the boat they were on sank off the island of Lampedusa in October 2013.