A boat carrying migrants has apparently sunk again in the Mediterranean – this time off the Italian island of Lampedusa. According to a media report, survivors speak of 41 missing people who are believed to have drowned.
According to a media report, 41 people may have died when a boat sank off the Italian Mediterranean island of Lampedusa. The boat left Sfax in Tunisia but sank on the way to Italy, the Ansa news agency reported, citing survivors.
According to the report, three men and a woman were rescued from the water by a Maltese cargo ship and taken to Lampedusa by the Italian coast guard. They reported that there were 41 other people on the boat. According to Ansa, no bodies have been found so far.
Two shipwrecks in the past few days
So far it is unclear whether the report is related to two shipwrecks that the Italian coast guard reported on Sunday and in which around 30 people were missing. The Coast Guard said they recovered 57 survivors and two bodies. According to media reports, at least one of the sunken boats left Sfax on Thursday. Separately, Tunisian authorities said on Monday that they recovered 11 bodies from a shipwreck near Sfax on Sunday. 44 migrants are still missing.
Criticism of “complete Unscrupulousness” the tug
Several international organizations again called for safe immigration and escape routes to Europe. The refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the children’s charity UNICEF demanded that EU states should provide more resources for search and rescue operations.
The UN organizations criticized the “complete unscrupulousness” of the tugboats, who, despite the currently adverse weather conditions, were taking unsuitable barges to Europe and thus exposing the passengers to the risk of death at sea.
The Catholic Community of Sant’Egidio called on the EU and all Mediterranean countries to do everything possible to save migrants in distress at sea. Under no circumstances should one limit oneself to outrage or the “cold update of the dramatic number of victims”.
Together with other church organizations and the Italian government, Sant’Egidio has repeatedly organized so-called humanitarian corridors for refugees in recent years. This enables those affected to enter the country safely and legally.
most dangerous migration route of the world
In the past few weeks, there have been repeated accidents involving refugee boats between Tunisia and Italy. Dozens of people were killed or are missing. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world. According to the UN organization, more than 20,000 people have died crossing this route since 2014.