At least 30 migrants are missing after two boats capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa, according to the testimony of a survivor, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced on Sunday. About 28 passengers from one of the boats and three from the second were lost at sea, after the boats capsized due to bad weather conditions, IOM said.
The boats were small metal craft apparently departing Thursday from Sfax, Tunisia. After speaking with survivors, IOM officials estimate that “at least 30 people have disappeared,” said press officer Flavio Di Giacomo. An investigation into the shipwrecks has been opened in Agrigento, in neighboring Sicily.
Agrigento police chief Emmanuele Ricifari, who is in charge of the investigation, stressed that bad weather was announced. “Those who allowed them to leave, or forced them to leave, are unscrupulous criminal lunatics,” he told Italian media. “A very rough sea is forecast for the coming days. Let’s hope they will stop “to leave people, “by this sea, it is to send them to the slaughterhouse”, he added.