Following the February 26 shipwreck in Calabria, UNICEF and Save the Children continue their search operations for the missing. According to survivors, several tens of people are still believed to be missing, among them many children.

They had left from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, the Palestinian Territories and traveled across the Eastern Mediterranean route.

Among survivors 16 minors, of which 3 are unaccompanied

Among those who survived there are also 16 minors, of which nine are now at the CARA in Crotone and six are at the hospital, while one -- who lost his family in the shipwreck -- was transferred to a shelter.

The total number of unaccompanied minors is three.

Survivors are still under a profound state of emotional shock, the organizations said.

UNICEF and Save the Children, together with other organizations present and active in the emergency, have provided psychological support from early on.

The operation focused on providing support to unaccompanied foreign minors and to families. All family groups have now been reunited, they said.

There are seven families staying at the CARA, almost all of them have lost some relatives in the shipwreck.

Among them is F., who left Afghanistan with his seven family members. He explains with a drawing the disposition of the people on the boat and the tragedy at sea. Of his family, only his 12-year-old cousin and himself survived, by swimming toward the beach.

Intervention as part of EU- funded project 'Protect'

The organizations said they are in contact with social services and the shelter facilities to follow up on taking charge of the minors.

The activity will continue in the coming days as well to guarantee psycho-social support and the activation of inclusion procedures, UNICEF and Save the Children said.

Both organizations have been present in Calabria since August 2022 with a fixed team comprised of a legal expert, a social assistant, a cultural mediator and a coordinator of the border response.

In these last days they have strengthened their presence on-site to face the emergency.

The joint intervention was realized within the context of the "Protect" project which is financed by the Directorate General of Migration and Home Affairs (HOME) of the European Commission to strengthen protection interventions for 20,000 children, adolescents, young people, women and refugees and migrants in Italy.

Since 2014 until today, over 26,000 persons died on the Mediterranean route.

The two organizations confirm the importance of guaranteeing an alternative safe passage to the sea crossing and to search and rescue missions, to avoid these tragedies from happening again.