At least 20 migrants died and many more remain missing after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported.
“Deep anguish for the umpteenth shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa, where UNHCR is now assisting the survivors. It looks to be 20 bodies found and as many missing,” said Filippo Ungaro, UNHCR spokesman, in a social media post.
Italy’s Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, confirmed the disaster, noting that the shipwreck occurred 14 nautical miles from Lampedusa. The boat was carrying 97 people when it overturned, according to Radio Radicale.
Details remain limited, but Save the Children Italy reported that a one-and-a-half-year-old baby girl appears to have perished in the tragedy. RaiRadio1 cited between 12 and 17 migrants missing and said that 60 survivors had been brought safely to the island. The overturned boat was spotted from the air by a plane of Italy’s financial police.
Migrants traveling from North Africa to Italy frequently use leaky or overcrowded vessels along the central Mediterranean route, one of the deadliest migration paths in the world. Lampedusa is a common arrival point.
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UNHCR stated that 675 migrants have died on the central Mediterranean route so far this year. Meanwhile, Italy’s interior ministry reported that 38,263 migrants have reached Italian shores as of Wednesday.
Commenting on the disaster, Piantedosi wrote on social media that it highlights “the urgency of preventing, from the countries of departure, the dangerous sea journeys and of relentlessly combating the ruthless trafficking business that fuels this phenomenon.”
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government has sought to reduce departures by striking agreements with North African countries, providing funding and training in exchange for support in curbing migration.