59 dead after boat carrying migrants shipwrecked off Italian coast

At least 59 people including twelve children, have died after an overloaded migrant boat sailing from Turkey was shipwrecked in rough seas off Southern Italy.

The wooden vessel apparently broke in two as it tried to land near the seaside resort of Steccato di Cutro on the eastern coast of Calabria. It’s believed the more than one hundred people on board came from countries including Iran, Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.