At least 26 people died in a migrant shipwreck on Wednesday off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa and 60 survivors were brought ashore, the coastguard said, warning more bodies could be missing as search operations continue.
The disaster, in this case involving people travelling from Libya, is the latest to befall migrants making the perilous Mediterranean crossing from Africa to Europe.
An Italian law enforcement aircraft spotted a capsized boat with bodies in the water about 14 miles (23 km) off Lampedusa on Wednesday morning, triggering a rescue operation, the coastguard said in a statement.
Based on initial accounts from the rescued migrants, they departed from Tripoli in the early morning aboard two boats.
One of the vessels began taking on water and they transferred to the other one, which later capsized in choppy seas, a source close to the matter said.
Initial tallies from the UN refugee agency UNHCR indicated that the group of migrants comprised 92 to 97 people.
Since the start of this year, 675 people have died in the central Mediterranean while trying to make the crossing from Africa, said Filippo Ungaro, a UNHCR spokesperson in Italy.
“The survivors brought into the hotspot arrived in reasonable health; naturally, there was exhaustion, and psychologically they were quite shaken,” said Imad Dalil, who heads the Italian Red Cross migrant hub on Lampedusa.
Earlier, the Red Cross said a total 56 men and four women had been brought ashore following the accident.
Prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government has vowed to block migrant sea journeys from Africa and has passed measures against people smugglers, including tougher jail terms, urging allies to do the same.
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In a statement, Ms Meloni expressed her sadness over the tragedy and said it showed the need for stronger action to stop illegal arrivals.
“We therefore renew our commitment to combat these unscrupulous traffickers in the only way possible: by preventing irregular departures and managing migration flows,” she said.
The Italian branch of Sea-Watch, the German nongovernmental organisation that operates rescue boats for migrants in the Mediterranean, expressed “rage and frustration” on the social media platform X after what it described as the “umpteenth shipwreck.”
It added that civil rescue ships could have helped immediately had they been alerted.
Mr Ungaro, of the UNHCR, said search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean should be reinforced and called on Europe to better support Italy and its coast guard. He also urged Europe to open humanitarian corridors for migrants, in particular those escaping from wars and countries where their rights have been violated. - Reuters
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