Italy: Migrants paid 8,000 euros each for ‘voyage of death’

By PAOLO SANTALUCIA and LUIGI NAVARRA
Associated Press

CROTONE, Italy (AP) — Rescue teams have pulled more bodies from the sea, bringing the death toll from Italy’s latest migrant tragedy to 65. Prosecutors have identified three suspected smugglers. Police said Tuesday that they charged 8,000 euros each for the “voyage of death” from Turkey to Italy. The overcrowded wooden boat slammed into the shoals just off Italy’s Calabrian coast and broke apart early Sunday in rough seas. Eighty people survived. But many more are feared dead since survivors indicated the boat had carried around 170 people when it set off last week from Turkey. The passengers were believed to be from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Iraq and included entire families.