LAMPEDUSA, Italy (BN24) — At least 26 migrants have died and more than a dozen remain missing after a packed boat capsized early Wednesday off the coast of Italy’s Lampedusa island, in one of the latest tragedies along the perilous central Mediterranean migration route.
The Italian Red Cross and U.N. agencies said 60 survivors were rescued from the sea and taken to a Lampedusa reception center, with four transported to hospital for urgent treatment. Italian authorities deployed five ships, two aircraft, and a helicopter in a desperate, ongoing search for those still unaccounted for. Officials cautioned that the death toll — currently at 26 — is provisional and likely to rise as hopes fade for the missing.
The disaster unfolded when an Italian law enforcement aircraft spotted an overturned vessel and several bodies floating about 14 miles from Lampedusa. Survivor testimonies suggest between 92 and 97 people were aboard when the boat departed Libya. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that the group had initially traveled in two vessels from the Tripoli area, but after one began taking on water, all passengers were crammed into a single fiberglass boat. Overloaded and unstable, it capsized in international waters.
“It is not immediately known how long the migrants had been at sea,” Lampedusa Mayor Filippo Mannino said, noting the tragedy likely occurred around dawn.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who has prioritized cracking down on irregular migration, expressed sorrow over the loss of life and renewed her commitment to combating what she called “unscrupulous traffickers.” She stressed that while international rescue efforts were operational, “the necessary rescue effort is not sufficient and, above all, does not address the root causes of this tragic problem.”
The IOM says 675 migrants have already died this year attempting the central Mediterranean crossing — a number that does not include those from Wednesday’s disaster. Over the past decade, nearly 24,500 people have died or gone missing on this route, which remains one of the deadliest migration corridors in the world. Most boats depart from Libya or Tunisia, often dangerously overcrowded and ill-equipped for rough seas.
The worst tragedy off Lampedusa occurred on Oct. 3, 2013, when a vessel carrying more than 500 migrants from Eritrea, Somalia, and Ghana caught fire and capsized, killing at least 368 people and prompting international calls for action.
This latest sinking comes just a day after U.K. government figures revealed that more than 50,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel from France since Prime Minister Keir Starmer took office, underscoring the scale and persistence of Europe’s migration crisis.
Credit: Sky News
