A rescue operation is underway for around 120 people in the Ionian Sea, 19 miles east of Soverato, Calabria. «In the early afternoon – reports Radio Radicale journalist Sergio Scanbdura – a Sar Inmarsat alert dispatch was issued by the Itmrcc Coordination and Rescue Center of the Italian Coast Guard in Rome, reporting the vessel in the SAR2363 case with a position detected at 15:07 Cet (1405z) 19 miles east of Soverato. The SAR operations, within Italian territorial waters (TTW), are under the coordination of the MRSC operations room of the maritime directorate of Reggio Calabria”. Scandura «traced the Frontex patrol vessel Sar to the scene».
The 99 migrants disembarked at the port of Crotone in the evening (50 Afghan men; 19 Afghan women; 26 Afghan minors including 6 MSNA; 1 Algerian woman; 3 Iranian men) who were on board a boat that set sail four days ago from a beach on the Turkish coast. The vessel was rescued by the vehicles of the Crotone port authority. The migrants were transferred onto Coast Guard vehicles and taken to the port where the women and men of the reception machine coordinated by the Crotone prefecture were already waiting.
After disembarking, they were taken to the reception center for asylum seekers in Sant’Anna di Isola Capo Rizzuto.