LAMPEDUSA ISLAND: Italy’s coastguard said on Sunday it had recovered two bodies and rescued 57 people off the southern island of Lampedusa, amid reports that more than 30 people were missing following two shipwrecks.
The Ansa news agency, citing survivors’ accounts, reported that two migrant boats that had set off from the port of Sfax, a hotspot for Tunisia’s migration crisis, had sunk on Saturday on their way to Europe.
One was carrying 48 people, the second 42, Ansa said, adding that the coastguard found the survivors about 23 nautical miles (46 km) south-west of Lampedusa, as well as the two victims – a woman from Ivory Coast and her one-year-old child.
A coastguard spokesperson said he could only confirm the number of survivors and the recovery of two bodies.
More than 2,000 people have arrived in Lampedusa in the last few days after being rescued at sea by Italian patrol boats and NGO groups, as strong winds further complicate the situation around the island.
About 20 migrants have been stuck since Friday on a cliff after their boat crashed against rocks upon arrival in Lampedusa, with the coastguard unable to reach them via sea or helicopter, local media said.
On Sunday, NGO group Open Arms wrote on social media X that it had finally begun disembarking 195 rescued sea migrants in the southern Italian port of Brindisi after more than two days of sailing in rough seas.
Italy’s right-wing government has adopted a policy of assigning far-away ports to charity ships, rather than letting them disembark rescued migrants in nearer Lampedusa or Sicily, with the aim of spreading arrivals across the country.
NGOs complain that this increases their navigation costs, prolongs the misery of survivors, and reduces the amount of time charity ships can patrol the areas of the Mediterranean where shipwrecks are more common.
Italy is experiencing a sharp surge in sea migration, with almost 92,000 arrivals recorded far this year, according to interior ministry data last updated on Friday, compared to more than 42,600 in the same period in 2022.
– Iron boats –
The Central Mediterranean migrant crossing route from North Africa to Europe is the world’s deadliest.
Over 1,800 people have died attempting it so far this year, Di Giacomo said — almost 900 more than last year.
“The truth is that figure is likely to be much higher. Lots of bodies are being found at sea, suggesting there are many shipwrecks we never hear about,” he said.
The number of bodies found has increased in particular on the so-called Tunisian route, which has become increasingly dangerous, Di Flavio said, because of the type of boats used.
Sub-Saharan migrants are being put out to sea by traffickers “in iron boats which cost less than the usual wooden ones, but are utterly unseaworthy, they easily break up and sink”, he said.
Migrants also often have the engines stolen from their boats at sea, so that traffickers can re-use them.
Nearly 92,000 people have landed on Italy’s shores so far this year, according to the interior ministry, over twice the number in the same period last year.
