Italian police comment on migrant boat disaster

Italian police said an investigation is underway to identify four alleged smugglers from Turkiye after at least 60 migrants died off the Italian coast on Sunday.

A wooden boat crowded with migrants smashed into rocky reefs and broke apart before dawn. Rescuers recovered nearly 60 bodies, and dozens more people were missing in the rough waters.

At least 80 people were found alive, including some who reached the shore after the shipwreck. More than 170 migrants were estimated to have been aboard the ship. Among them were "children and entire families,'' according to the U.N. statement, with most of the passengers from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia.