Six people have died and 40 were missing on Wednesday after a boat disaster off the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The wreck occurred on Tuesday afternoon. A half-sunken dinghy was spotted by Italian police patrols close to the islet of Lampione.
The Italian coastguard rescued 10 people. The search for survivors resumed early on Wednesday.
According to reports in the Italian press, survivors told rescuers there were about 56 people on the vessel, which had left from Sfax in Tunisia and got into difficulty owing to bad weather. They said many had fallen into the sea.
The bodies of six people were taken to Lampedusa. Six men and four women were among the survivors transferred to a reception centre on the island.
“The deaths in the Mediterranean of those who set out in search of a more dignified future point a finger towards our own inability to imagine a future capable of giving hope and horizons of life,” said Fr Marco Pagniello, the director of the Italian unit for the Catholic church-run charity Caritas.
“During days in which the merciless violence of wars are once again getting the upper hand over the prospect of peace, all the more is required of everyone, but especially those who have received the mandate to work for the common good, to respond first and foremost to the needs of those who are forced to abandon their home. We cannot get used to these [tragic] events as if they are business as usual.”
The tragedy came amid a steady increase in the number of people arriving in Italy after making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean from North Africa in search of refuge.
The rise was most noticeable in January, when 3,368 people arrived compared with 2,258 in the same month in 2024. Most of the people who came towards the end of that month had left from Libya, with whom Italy has a controversial pushback deal.
The increase is believed to have been connected to the arrest in Italy of Osama Najim, a Libyan warlord wanted by the international criminal court for suspected war crimes, including abuse of migrants and refugees held in Libyan detention centres as part of the pact. Najim was subsequently released and deported back to Tripoli, causing uproar in Italy.
At least 248 people are estimated to have died while trying to cross the Mediterranean in January and February, according to figures from the International Organisation for Migration. An estimated 2,300 either died or went missing during the crossing in 2024. − Guardian
