Death toll rises to 63 after migrant shipwreck

Rescuers were still searching for people Monday morning after a wooden sailboat carrying around 200 migrants smashed into rocks off the coast of southern Italy on Sunday, killing at least 14 children. The mayor of the city near where they capsized declared Monday a day of mourning. At least 81 people survived.

Where were the migrants coming from? Many of the victims were from Afghanistan and others were from Iraq and Pakistan, according to the United Nations and Doctors Without Borders. Afghans were the second top nationality to seek asylum in the EU in 2022. People have been fleeing the country since the Taliban took control in 2021. About 105,000 people arrived migrants arrived in Italy in 2022 with 15 percent of them coming by boat from Turkey, according to the UN. Nearly 50 percent of the migrants that arrived in Turkey were fleeing Afghanistan. 

Dig deeper: Listen to Addie Offereins and Mary Reichard’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about a new refugee program in the United States.