On the coastline of southern Italy, a small group gathered at the water’s edge.

They could not go any further into the Ionian Sea although they clearly wished they could.

“Is Europe worth all this trouble, I swear to God it’s not,” says a man called Setar.

“Why put your wife and children through this?”

The shock is real, the feelings raw after the deaths of 60 or more migrants in the central Mediterranean in this incident alone.

The Italian coastguard says 20 bodies have been recovered off the coast of Calabria after a sailboat packed with migrants capsized and sank.

Some 76 people were believed to be on board, and only 11 survived. The rest are missing and feared dead.

Passengers clung to the remains of the semi-submerged craft some 120 miles from the Italian coast but assistance – in the form of the coastguard – took four days to arrive.

Only 11 managed to survive the ordeal.

Smugglers organised the journey from a place near Bodrum in Turkey, using a well-used migration seaway through the Mediterranean.

More than 70 paid for a spot in the vessel, with the majority formed by Kurds from Iran and Iraq.

Some passengers told their relatives that they would travelling “like VIPs”, but that was just a lie spun by the smugglers.

There were few provisions on board.

We found a woman called Mitra Ghasem Karimi, sitting under the hull of an old boat in the Italian port of Roccella Ionica.

It was clear that Ms Karimi had been crying.

Originally from Iran, she now lives in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. She told me that her brother Pourya, 41, and sister Somma, 36, had boarded that craft.

She said: “There was no water, there was no food in the boat – but to the families and the people who got in that damn boat, (the smugglers) said yes, there is water, food.

“My brother and sister had life jackets, but they would not let them take them with them. Why?”

Mitra and her husband said they wanted to hire a helicopter so they could fly over the remains of the vessel. I asked them what they were expecting to see.

She replied: “Maybe some bodies, maybe I can find the body of my own brother and sister, to find the bodies and take them to my mum, so my mum can mourn.”

Mitra had stowed her brother and sister’s Iranian passports securely in her bag, and she burst into tears as she took them out to show me.

“They just wanted a better life, the people who got into that boat. Why can’t they have that life in their country, their damn country?” she said.

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It took the best part of a day to hire a helicopter – along with 6,000 Euros in cash – but Mitra did not find the bodies of her brother and sister.

Her siblings remain lost at sea.

But she has recordings of their voices stored on phone and she has hovered above the waters where they lost their lives.

It may have brought her a small measure of peace.

Cedric Mullins hit a two-run homer to spark a six-run second inning, Gunnar Henderson reached base four times, and the Baltimore Orioles knocked out rookie pitcher Luis Gil early in a 17-5 rout of the New York Yankees on Thursday.

On a 90-degree day, the Orioles improved to 5-2 against the Yankees and set a major league record by winning their 22nd straight series against an American League East opponent. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Orioles surpassed the mark set by the Atlanta Braves (1998-2000), Milwaukee Brewers (1991-92) and Cincinnati Reds (1975, 1969-1970).

The 17 runs also marked rare success for the Orioles against the Yankees. It was their second most in a road game against New York and tied for the third most overall, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Henderson doubled twice among his three hits to extend the majors’ longest active on-base streak to 27 games and his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games. He also added an RBI groundout in the sixth.

Ryan Mountcastle had a bases-clearing double and an RBI single in the ninth off New York catcher Jose Trevino. Anthony Santander hit a three-run homer for his MLB-best 10th home run this month as the Orioles moved to within a half-game of first-place New York.

Ryan O’Hearn added an RBI double and drove in four runs, while Austin Hays hit a two-run homer in the seventh as the Orioles collected 19 hits and scored their most runs since an 18-5 win at Cleveland on June 6, 2021.

Gleyber Torres hit a solo home run before exiting with a groin injury and Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 27th homer by lining a two-run shot in the third off Baltimore starter Cole Irvin. Judge also had an RBI single in his return from a one-game absence after getting hit on the left hand in New York’s 4-2 win Tuesday.

But the Yankees lost back-to-back series for the first time this season.

Irvin allowed five runs and five hits in 4⅔ innings. Bryan Baker (1-0) relieved him and was credited with the win.

Gil allowed seven runs and eight hits in a career-low 1⅓ innings.

Henderson opened the game with a double over right fielder Juan Soto‘s head and scored on O’Hearn’s two-strike single. Mullins blasted a slider into the right field seats for a 3-0 lead, and Mountcastle chopped a double past third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera down the left field line to make it 6-0.

After Torres and Judge connected, Santander went deep in the fifth off Tim Hill, who signed with the Yankees before the game.

Gil’s short outing ended New York’s streak of 76 straight starts of at least four innings to start the season. It was the seventh-longest streak in baseball and the longest in the American League since the Chicago White Sox did it in the first 89 games of 2006.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Orioles: OF Colton Cowser did not start after being plunked on the elbow pad Wednesday. … 3B Jordan Westburg went 2-for-5 after sitting out Wednesday because of left hip discomfort.

Yankees: OF Jasson Domínguez will miss at least eight weeks with a strained left oblique. He was injured on a check swing during a game for Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes/Barre on Saturday.

UP NEXT

Orioles: Grayson Rodriguez (8-2, 3.20 ERA) opposes RHP Jake Bloss in the opener of a three-game series at Houston.

Yankees: LHP Carlos Rodón (9-3, 3.28) faces Atlanta LHP Chris Sale (9-2, 2.98) in the opener of a three-game interleague series Friday in the Bronx.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.