‘Phantom Shipwreck’ Reportedly Found

The Italian newspaper La Repubblica says it has found the site of a “phantom shipwreck” believed to be the graveyard of about 283 illegal immigrants who tried to reach Italy in 1996 and whose fate has been hushed up for years.

The ship sank in waters off the southeastern tip of Sicily, near the town of Portopalo, but was never found. The identity card of a victim was caught recently in a fisherman’s net, and the newspaper used a robot to search for the wreck.

Reporter Giovanni Maria Bellu said many people in Portopalo knew the ship had sunk but that no one told authorities, so that they “would not have to go through any bureaucratic hassle.”