Two shipwrecks occurred off Italy’s coast on Monday, leaving dozens of migrants dead, Reuters reports.
Eleven people have died and more than 60 are missing, including 26 children, after two migrant shipwrecks off Italy’s southern coast, aid groups, coast guard officials and UN agencies said on Monday.
German aid group RESQSHIP, which operates the rescue vessel Nadir, said it picked up 51 people from the sinking wooden boat, including two unconscious people, and found 10 bodies stranded on the vessel’s lower deck.
The survivors were handed over to the Italian coastguard and brought ashore on Monday morning as the Nadir headed for the Italian island of Lampedusa, towing the wooden boat with the dead, the charity said.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration and UN children’s agency UNICEF said in a joint statement that the ship had set sail from Libya and was carrying migrants from Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The second shipwreck occurred about 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of Italy’s Calabria region when a boat travelling from Turkey caught fire and capsized, the agencies said.
They said 64 people were missing at sea and 11 were rescued and brought ashore by the Italian coastguard, along with the body of one woman.
The central Mediterranean is one of the world’s deadliest migration routes. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), 2023 was the deadliest year on record for refugees, with at least 8,565 people killed along migration routes around the world.
The UN agency said the Mediterranean Sea crossing remains the most dangerous journey, with at least 3,129 people dead and missing in 2023 – the highest number since 2017.
