Around 60 migrants die in boat wreck off Italy

At least 59 migrants, including 11 children and a newborn baby, died after their overloaded boat sank in stormy seas off Italy's southern Calabria region, officials said.

Crotone's rescue centre said 12 of the 59 victims were children, including a newborn, and 33 were women.

Italian coastguards said the overloaded vessel broke up in violent waves off Crotone, with one officer reporting that a suspected people smuggler had been arrested by the security forces.

Wooden debris was strewn across around 100 metres of beach, where many rescuers were deployed.

Rescue workers said that the vessel had been carrying "more than 200 people".

Far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who came to power in October vowing to stem the flow of migrants reaching Italian shores, said "The government is committed to preventing (migrant boat) departures and, with them, this type of tragedy."

Meloni said it was "criminal to put a boat of barely 20 metres to sea with 200 people onboard and a bad weather forecast".

She demanded collaboration from migrants' home countries and states from where they embark on their perilous sea crossings.   

A large proportion of people seeking to reach European shores cross the Mediterranean from Africa to Italy.

According to the interior ministry, nearly 14,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea so far this year, up from 5,200 over the same period last year.