Under fire, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday denied any responsibility of her government for the shipwreck that killed at least 69 migrants in southern Italy.

"The situation is simple yet tragic: we have not received any emergency reports from Frontex," she told a news briefing in Abu Dhabi on the sidelines of a visit to the United Arab Emirates.

"All we can", really?

The Italian justice questions the too late arrival of help during the sinking of the boat of migrants Sunday off Crotone (Calabria), whose toll rose Saturday to 69 dead, after the discovery of the body of a child of about three years.

Frontex said one of its patrol planes spotted an overcrowded boat that had left the previous week from Izmir in Turkey the previous week to Italy and alerted Italian authorities.

"We have always done everything we can to save lives as soon as we are alerted to a problem. In this case, we were not warned, "defended Giorgia Meloni.

Call for resignation

The tragedy provoked great emotion and revived criticism against the government of Giorgia Meloni, known for its anti-migrant positions, the opposition calling in particular for the resignation of Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi.

In an open letter, the mayor of Crotone had reproached the Prime Minister for the absence of the government after the tragedy. "The community of Crotone, struck by immense pain, waited from you for a message, a call, a sign, which did not arrive," wrote Vincenzo Voce.

Lack of European solidarity

"I am looking for solutions, Italy cannot solve the problem alone, but to prevent more people from dying we must stop illegal departures," replied the leader of the post-fascist Fratelli d'Italia party.

The migration issue is a very sensitive political issue in Italy, a country of first entry where hundreds of thousands of migrants have arrived in recent years. Rome accuses its partners in the European Union of a lack of solidarity.

According to the Italian Interior Ministry, more than 14,000 migrants, including 1,700 minors, have landed in Italy since the beginning of the year, compared to about 5,500 during the same period last year.

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