Arrest of Four Individuals in Iraqi Kurdistan Related to Drowning of Refugees in Italy

The government of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq announced that four individuals have been arrested in connection with the deaths and disappearances of dozens of refugees due to the sinking of a boat in the waters of Italy. Last week, during the sinking of a boat carrying refugees from the Kurdistan Province of Iran, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and Afghan citizens, 36 people were killed and 60 are still missing. Earlier, Zhila Mostajer, a board member of Hengaw, had told Radio Farda that 20 of the deceased were Kurds from Iran, including from Piranshahr, Sardasht, Urmia, Sanandaj, and Boukan, whose names have been verified by Hengaw. According to AFP, of the passengers on the sunken vessel, which had arrived from Turkey to the coastal waters of Calabria in Italy before capsizing, only 11 survived, and efforts to find the missing individuals continue. The Kurdistan Region's security organization, Asayish, announced on Tuesday, July 5, that four individuals suspected of being ringleaders of human trafficking to Europe were arrested. Asayish only released the initial letters of the suspects' names, and a security official from the Kurdistan Region told AFP that all of them were arrested in the Sulaymaniyah Province of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Earlier last month, officials from the Kurdistan Region also reported the arrest of a human trafficker known by the alias 'Scorpion,' who is wanted by several European countries. The International Organization for Migration states that last year approximately 3,155 migrants lost their lives or went missing in the Mediterranean Sea, and this figure is around 1,000 in the first half of this year. The central Mediterranean migration route, where Italy is located, is the deadliest in the world, accounting for 80% of fatalities. Most migrants come from Africa, traveling by boat from Libya and Tunisia towards Europe, with Italy often being their first stop for entering Europe.