At least 60 migrants, including 12 children, have drowned after their boat broke up off the southern coast of Italy’s mainland.
A ship carrying up to 150 migrants ran into trouble in rough seas at dawn on Sunday near the coastal town of Crotone, in Calabria, the Coast Guard said.
Manuela Curra, a provincial government official, told Reuters news agency that the migrant boat shipwrecked after departing from Izmir in eastern Turkey three or four days ago.
It had been carrying people from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia, with survivors claiming “140 to 150 people had been aboard”.
Sixty migrants are confirmed to have died while 81 survivors had come ashore, including 22 who are now in hospital. Most of the survivors are said to have come from Afghanistan.
The Coast Guard said a patrol boat recovered two men in a state of hypothermia along with the lifeless body of a child.
Vessels from the coast guard, border police and firefighters were involved in rescue efforts.
Image: Rescue officials say an undetermined number of migrants have died and dozens have been rescued
Vigili del Fuoco, Italy’s institutional agency for fire and rescue service, reported that the boat of migrants ran aground off the seaside resort of Steccato di Cutro, in the province of Crotone.
Danilo Maida, a spokesman for the firefighters in the Calabria region, said firefighters are still looking for more survivors at sea, but conditions are harsh, which is making the search difficult.
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The Coast Guard of Reggio said it is coordinating search and rescue activities at sea and has sent two patrol boats and a helicopter from the Catania Aircraft Base to look for survivors.
Speaking to Sky News, Rosario Maria Gianluca Valastro, the acting president of the Italian Red Cross, said the situation was “very, very bad”.
He said the Italian Red Cross had almost 30 volunteers supporting emergency services and the army by helping the survivors.
“What happened is a real disaster. And the people are really, really in a bad situation.”
He said the Italian army is doing research into how many migrants were on board, but he believes it could be around 200 people.
Image: The wreckage from a capsized boat washes ashore at a beach near Cutro, southern Italy
Following the incident, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her “deep sorrow” for the victims and pledged to stop irregular sea migration to prevent more tragedies.
“The Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expresses her deep sorrow for the many human lives cut short by human traffickers,” a statement from her office said.
“The government is committed to preventing (migrant) departures, and with them the unfolding of these tragedies, and will continue to do so, first of all by demanding maximum collaboration from (migrants’) countries of departure and of origin,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis said he was praying for everyone who got caught up in the migrant boat shipwreck.
“I heard with sorrow of the shipwreck off the Calabrian coast near Crotone. Already 40 dead have been recovered, many of them children,” he said in his weekly address to crowds in St Peter’s Square.
“I pray for every one of them, for the missing and for the other surviving migrants.”
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Image: Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Image: Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.