Sicilian City Cancels Annual Fireworks Out of Respect for Recent Migrant Deaths

The Sicilian city of Catania canceled its annual fireworks show after the bodies of 49 migrants were discovered inside the hold of a fishing boat. They had apparently died of fume inhalation.

An additional 300 passengers were also rescued from the fishing boat as part of a larger rescue operation by the Italian navy and were transferred to the Norwegian container ship the Siem Pilot, which was helping with the operation, the Associated Press reports.

Along with the 313 people rescued from the fishing boat and the 49 bodies, the Siem Pilot was also carrying 103 migrants from a separate rescue by a German ship, AFP reports.

Deputy Mayor of Catania Marco Consoli told the AP on Monday that the show would be canceled out of respect for the dead and that a white balloon would be released for each of the victims instead.

More than 2,300 migrants have died at sea so far this year as they sought to escape violence or persecution. More than 100,000 migrants have been rescued and brought to Italy this year, the AP reports.

[AP]

The Tiny Greek Island of Kos at the Center of the Refugee Crisis

A dinghy overcrowded with Afghan migrants arrives on the Greek island of Kos, after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece, on May 27, 2015.

Angelos Tzortzinis—AFP/Getty Images

Afghan migrants arrive on the Greek island of Kos, after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece, on May 27, 2015.

Angelos Tzortzinis—AFP/Getty Images

An Afghan migrant girl holds the hand of a woman as they arrive on the Greek island of Kos, after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece, on May 27, 2015.

Angelos Tzortzinis—AFP/Getty Images

A Syrian refugee prays on the beach after arriving on the Greek island of Kos, via a dinghy boat over part of the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece, on May 26, 2015.

Yannis Behrakis—Reuters

Hundreds of newly arrived migrants walk toward a temporary shelter after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece, on May 26, 2015.

Yannis Behrakis—Reuters

An Afghan migrant family poses next to a deserted hotel, where hundreds of migrants have found temporary shelter, on the Greek island of Kos on May 27, 2015.

Angelos Tzortzinis—AFP/Getty Images

Afghan migrants wash next to a deserted hotel, where hundreds of migrants have found temporary shelter, on the Greek island of Kos on May 27, 2015.

Angelos Tzortzinis—AFP/Getty Images

A migrant man from Bangladesh brushes his hair in a broken mirror in an abandoned hotel, acting as a temporary shelter, on the Greek island of Kos on May 29, 2015.

Dan Kitwood—Getty Images

A mother sits with her two young sons as they get ready to sleep in the corridor of an abandoned hotel that many migrants are using as a temporary shelter on the Greek island of Kos on May 30, 2015.

Dan Kitwood—Getty Images

Migrants gather outside the police station on the Greek island of Kos to collect documentation to facilitate their onward journey into Europe on June 1, 2015.

Dan Kitwood—Getty Images

An Afghan woman sits with her child at a dock at the port of the Greek island of Kos on May 27, 2015.

Angelos Tzortzinis—AFP/Getty Images

Life vests and a deflated dinghy are seen on a beach on the Greek island of Kos, following the arrival of Afghan immigrants, on May 30, 2015.

Yannis Behrakis—Reuters

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