 Military actions in Sicily ended on August 17, 1943, with Italy signing an unconditional armistice with the Allied forces on September 8 of that year.The sea off Portopalo was the scene of the worst shipping disaster to hit the Mediterranean since the Second World War.In the early hours of December 26, 1996, a fishing vessel "F174" carrying more than 300 South Asian migrants sank off the coast of Sicily and 283 of them drowned.