Italy ends search for dead after Feb. 26 migrant shipwreck

ROME (Reuters) - Italian authorities on Tuesday said they were ending the search for bodies after a deadly shipwreck on Feb. 26 off the southern town of Cutro that claimed at least 94 lives.

The wooden migrant boat had set off from Western Turkey with around 180 people aboard, but smashed apart in stormy weather off the shore of Calabria in Italy's southern toe.

Eighty people survived the disaster, suggesting around six people might still be missing.

The government provincial office in the nearby city of Crotone said it was shutting down a search coordination centre, but would reactivate the unit if any more bodies were sighted.

It said 48 of the recovered bodies were flown to Afghanistan for burial. Other bodies were repatriated to Tunisia, Iran, Palestine and Pakistan, while some were buried in Finland, Germany and Italy.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Bernadette Baum)