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Six people lost their lives, and 40 others are missing following a migrant shipwreck in the Mediterranean, according to a statement by the United Nations on Wednesday. Italian authorities are conducting search operations for survivors near the island of Lampedusa.
The coastguard confirmed that search and rescue centers in Malta and Tunisia have been notified as part of the ongoing efforts to locate the missing individuals.
A spokesperson for the UNHCR informed AFP that the rescued individuals—six men and four women—reported there were 56 people on board, originating from Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, and Cameroon.
According to the AGI news agency, survivors, who are now receiving psychological support, stated that some of the missing had fallen overboard due to rough sea conditions.
In a separate incident, the ANSA news agency reported that another group of 40 migrants arrived on Lampedusa after traveling from Sfax in metal boats.
“Still too many dead in a new shipwreck in the Mediterranean,” Chiara Cardoletti, the Italy representative of the UN refugee agency UNHCR, said on X.
An inflatable dinghy carrying 56 people left the Tunisian port of Sfax on Monday before getting into trouble, she said.
“After a few hours of sailing, the dinghy began to deflate and take on water. Six bodies recovered. 40 missing,” she wrote.
Italy’s coastguard said it pulled 10 people to safety and was scouring the area for survivors.
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More Shorts“Due to the particularly adverse weather and sea conditions, the search operations are being carried out with the support of various aircraft… which will take turns in overflying the area,” the coastguard said in a statement.
Those included aircraft belonging to Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, it said.
The dinghy was reportedly found partially deflated off the tiny rocky outcrop of Lampione, to the west of Lampedusa, which lies closer to North Africa than Europe.
Around 8,743 migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year, slightly more than in the same period last year, according to Italy’s interior ministry.
Save the Children said that number includes “almost a thousand unaccompanied minors”.
Far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has adopted a tough stance on migrants, vowing to stop arrivals, which are down sharply on 2023 figures.
The country is the first port of call for many people who make the perilous journey on small boats from North Africa to Europe.
Meloni’s flagship plan is to outsource migrant processing to Albania – a non-EU country – and speed up repatriations of failed asylum seekers.
But the scheme, closely watched by Europe, has run into several legal hurdles and the purpose-built centres in Albania currently stand empty.
With inputs from agencies