Italian coast guards searched off southern Italy on Monday for survivors or the bodies of dozens of migrants feared missing, after two shipwrecks left 11 people dead.
With up to 60 migrants potentially lost at sea, the coastguard said they had been searching since Sunday evening for “possible missing people”, “following the sinking of a sailboat with migrants on board, presumably from Turkey.
The rescue operations began after “a ‘mayday’ from a French pleasure boat” some 120 nautical miles from the Italian coast, according to the press release.
The French ship alerted the authorities to “the presence of the half-sunken boat”, before taking on board 12 surviving migrants.
They were then transferred to an Italian coast guard boat, which took them to the town of Roccella Ionica in southern Italy.
One of the 12 survivors died after disembarking, the coast guard said.
According to the ANSA news agency, around fifty migrants were missing following the shipwreck, while Radio Radicale puts the number at 64, specifying that the people lost at sea came from Afghanistan and Iran.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it was providing “psychological assistance to all survivors.”
The team “supported first aid activities for 12 people, including a woman who died shortly after disembarkation due to her serious health problem,” he added.
– Lower deck flooded –
Further south, rescuers coming to the aid of migrants on a wooden boat off the Italian island of Lampedusa discovered 10 bodies under the bridge, the German humanitarian group ResQship published on Monday.
The crew of the ResQship ship, the Nadir, managed to bring 51 people to safety.
“The rescue came too late for 10 people,” the German charity said.
“A total of 61 people were on board the wooden boat, which was full of water. Our crew was able to evacuate 51 people, two of whom were unconscious and had to be freed with an axe,” the statement said.
“The 10 dead are in the flooded lower deck of the boat,” the statement added.
The survivors were from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt and Syria, according to ANSA, which said they paid about $3,500 to travel on the eight-meter-long boat.
More than 3,150 migrants died or disappeared in the Mediterranean last year, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.
The central Mediterranean is the deadliest known migration route in the world, accounting for 80 percent of deaths and disappearances in the Mediterranean Sea.
It is widely used by migrants fleeing conflict or poverty, who leave by boat from Tunisia or Libya to try to enter the European Union via Italy.
– Difficult choice –
The EU recently adopted a vast reform strengthening immigration control at its borders.
And since coming to power in 2022, far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has pledged to significantly reduce the number of people crossing by boat from the coast of North Africa.
Rome has put in place a series of rules to curb the activities of charity ships accused of being a pull factor for migrants – from limiting the number of rescues to allocating remote ports.
Under a law adopted in early 2023, charity ships are obliged to return to port “without delay” as soon as their first rescue is completed, even if they are aware of other migrants in difficulty.
In recent months, the Italian coast guard has assigned ships to increasingly remote ports, sometimes in harsh weather conditions, to the detriment of the physical and mental health of vulnerable migrants.
Charity crews face a stark choice: comply with Italian authorities by leaving migrant boats adrift despite the risk of people dying, or disobey and risk their vessels being seized.
Arrivals by sea to Italy have fallen significantly since the start of the year, with some 23,725 people disembarking so far, compared to 53,902 for the same period in 2023, according to the Interior Ministry.
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