MILAN — In a tragic incident in the central Mediterranean, the Italian Coast Guard has retrieved six bodies and is actively searching for up to 40 migrants who remain missing after their rubber dinghy sank shortly after departing Tunisia. This was confirmed by the United Nations refugee agency on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, ten individuals, including four women, were successfully rescued and brought to Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost island. The survivors, who are reportedly in good health, are receiving psychological support from the Red Cross.
Efforts to locate the missing migrants continue, with aircraft from the European border agency Frontex and the Italian Coast Guard participating in the challenging search operation due to adverse sea conditions.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that around 56 people were aboard the dinghy when it set sail from Sfax, a port city in Tunisia, on Monday. Hours later, the overcrowded vessel began to deflate. The migrants originally hailed from Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Mali, according to the UNHCR.
Since 2014, the U.N. Missing Migrant Project has recorded more than 24,506 deaths and disappearances in the hazardous central Mediterranean region. However, the actual numbers might be higher as numerous incidents go undocumented.
In the current year, nearly 8,963 migrants have reached Italy, signifying a 4% rise compared to the same timeframe in the previous year, as per the latest data from the Italian Interior Ministry.
To curb the flow of migrants, Premier Giorgia Meloni’s center-right administration has been seeking economic agreements with North African nations aimed at reducing departures. Addressing lawmakers, Meloni highlighted that such agreements had led to a significant decrease in migrant arrivals, dropping nearly 60% to 66,317 migrants last year from 157,651 in 2023.
She also noted that 1,695 individuals were either dead or missing at sea in 2024, compared to 2,526 the previous year. “These statistics signify that reducing departures and dismantling traffickers’ operations is the sole path to decrease the number of migrants who perish trying to reach Italy and Europe,” she stated.
In a related development, the humanitarian rescue organization Emergency succeeded in rescuing 35 people in the Libyan search-and-rescue zone on Monday. However, they were directed to disembark at the northern Italian port city of La Spezia, in line with the Meloni government’s practice of assigning remote ports for disembarkation.
“This policy implies an additional three-day journey, exacerbating the suffering of the shipwrecked individuals,” explained Anabel Montes Mier, the mission lead.
