of Calabria declined further and the region was notorious as one of the most violent and lawless areas of Italy. Attempts by the peasants of Calabria to take over the land owned by the elite were usually resisted by the authorities. On 28 October 1949 in Melissa the police opened fire on peasants who had seized the land of a local baron, killing three men who were shot in the back as they attempted to flee. Between 1949 and 1966 another wave of migration took place with the peak year of migration being 1957 with some 38, 090 Calabrians leaving that year. Under the First Republic, starting in the 1960s, investment plans were launched under which Italian state sponsored industrialisation and attempted to improve the infrastructure of Calabria by building modern roads, railroads, ports, etc. The plan was a notable failure with the infrastructure projects going wildly over-budget and taking far longer to complete then scheduled; for an example, construction started on the A3 highway in 1964 intended to link Reggio Calabria to Salerno, which was as of 2016 still unfinished. The failure to complete the A3 highway after 52 years of effort is regarded as a scandal in Italy, and many parts of Calabria were described as an "industrial graveyard" full of the closed down steel mills and chemical plants that all went bankrupt. From July 1970 to February 1971 the Reggio revolt took place as the decision to make Catanzaro instead of Reggio the regional capital prompted massive protests. The compromise decision to make Catanzaro the executive capital and Reggio the administrative capital has led to a bloated and inefficient administration. The high unemployment rate in Calabria has led to extensive migration and Calabria's biggest export has been its own people as Calabrians have moved to either other parts of Italy and abroad, especially to the United States, Canada and Argentina, to seek a better life. In 2016, it was estimated that 18% of the people born in Calabria were living abroad. Early on Sunday, February 26th, 2023, a wooden sailing boat carrying migrants to Europe crashed against the rocks and "sank in rough seas before dawn near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria." At least 59 people died, including 12 children. The vessel sailed from Turkey, carrying people from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Somalia. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, elected in