Boat tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea have once again led to loss of life, with at least 11 people, including Pakistani migrants, perishing near Italy’s coast.
A vessel reportedly sank 90 kilometres south of Lampedusa island on Monday, with the German sea rescue charity RESQSHIP confirming that 51 individuals were rescued from a wooden boat in distress.
The rescue boat “Nadir” found 10 bodies on the lower deck of the vessel. The captain, Ingo Werth, described the migrants’ boat as nearly capsizing, posing a grave risk even to rescuers.
Survivors informed aid workers that they had embarked from the Libyan port of Zuwarah two days prior, with most passengers originating from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria, and Egypt.
In a separate incident between Italy and Greece on Tuesday, another shipwreck led to three fatalities, and 64 people were reported missing. The Italian Coast Guard has deployed two patrol boats, a ship, and a plane to search for those unaccounted for, including 26 children. The identities of the three deceased have not been disclosed.
This shipwreck involved migrants who had departed from Turkey and spent eight days at sea, hailing from Iran, Syria, and Iraq, as stated by the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration, and UNICEF. The charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) added that some migrants also originated from Afghanistan.
These incidents underscore the dangerous nature of the central Mediterranean migration route, recognized as one of the deadliest globally. U.N. data reveals that over 23,500 migrants have either died or disappeared in these waters since 2014.
