At least 15 bodies, believed to be those of migrants, have washed ashore on Italy's coasts in recent days. Authorities confirmed the discoveries on Tuesday along beaches in Sicily and Calabria's southern region.
Italian authorities are investigating the discovery of several bodies believed to be migrants along the Calabrian and Sicilian coasts, amid fears they may be linked to an unreported shipwreck during recent winter storms in the Mediterranean.
Investigations are ongoing, but officials believe the victims died at sea in the last few weeks. The journey across the Mediterranean to Europe is considered dangerous even in normal weather conditions, with migrants often sent out by smugglers from countries such as Libya, Algeria and Tunisia in vessels that are barely seaworthy. Aid groups fear that several hundred people may have drowned since the beginning of the year, with bodies also recovered at sea by the coastguard and civilian vessels, including fishing boats.
Students discovered a body on Tuesday (February 17), near the Calabrian seaside town of Tropea, authorities said. An unidentified man was wearing an orange life jacket, and a woman without identification documents was also found dead. Prosecutors have opened an investigation, as bodies were also recovered on the small Italian island of Pantelleria, off the main island of Sicily.
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Theory points to route from Algeria
Investigators in Calabria are exploring a theory that four decomposed bodies -- found in Scalea on February 8, Amantea on the February 12, Paola, and Tropea -- came from a "phantom" shipwreck on the migrant smuggling route from Algeria to Sardinia, explaining their presence in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The bodies' advanced decomposition rules out links to two Sardinian fishermen, Antonio Morlè, 53, and Enrico Piras, 63, reported the Italian news agency ANSA, who died on February 11 when their vessel "Luigino" sank. Paola prosecutor Domenico Fiordalisi said, "At the moment, we have no evidence to link the discovery of the three bodies to any particular shipwreck, and if so, I cannot release any details."
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Fears of hundreds missing after Cyclone Harry
Migrant-rescue NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans estimates as many as 1,000 people may have gone missing at sea due to storms from Cyclone Harry that hit southern Italy last month. The figure stems from testimonies by Refugees in Libya and Tunisia, noting at least 380 people reported missing as of January 24 after boats departed from Tunisia's Sfax amid seven-meter high waves. Valeria Taurino, director of the NGO, took to X to denounce both European and Italian migration policies and linked these to the bodies washed onto Calabria's shores.
Earlier this month, Mediterranea President Laura Marmorale accused Italy and Malta of being "silent" and "not moving a finger" over the disappearances.
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Calls for action amid silence
Senator Enrico Borghi of the centrist Italia Viva party recently launched a parliamentary inquiry, decrying a "climate of substantial lack of interest and insensibility" and urging tracking of the missing. Deputy Premier Antonio Tajani previously labeled human traffickers "criminal killers," adding, "You don't set off with a boat in stormy seas."
The discoveries pose challenges for identification, burial, and tracing the origins of people who may have been on board these ghost shipwrecks. They underscore a lethal mix of smuggling, bad weather, and limited rescue possibilities on the world's deadliest migration route. Prosecutors continue forensic work as NGOs warn the true toll may far exceed official counts.
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With dpa, ANSA