At Least 11 Dead, 64 Missing After Shipwrecks in Mediterranean

At least 11 people have died and 64 others are missing after two shipwrecks off the coast of southern Italy, according to a German charity, the Italian coast guard, and United Nations agencies.

The German aid group RESQSHIP, which operates the Nadir rescue ship, reported picking up 51 people from a sinking wooden boat, including two unconscious individuals, and found 10 bodies trapped in the vessel’s lower deck.

The survivors, hailing from Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, were handed over to the Italian coast guard and brought ashore on Monday morning. RESQSHIP announced that the Nadir was making its way to the island of Lampedusa, towing the wooden boat with the deceased on board. “Our thoughts are with their families. We are angry and sad,” the group posted on social media.

The second shipwreck occurred about 200 km (125 miles) east of Calabria, when a boat that had departed from Turkey eight days earlier caught fire and overturned. The UN agencies stated that 64 people were missing at sea, while 11 were rescued and taken to the Calabrian town of Roccella Ionica, along with the body of a woman. The Italian coast guard, with the assistance of the European Union border agency Frontex, continues to search for the missing individuals.

The vessel, a partially sunken sailing boat, was initially spotted by a French boat in international waters where Italian and Greek search-and-rescue zones overlap. The refugees and migrants involved in this second incident were from Iran, Syria, and Iraq.

These tragedies underscore the ongoing migrant crisis in the Mediterranean. According to a March report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), over 27,000 people have died in the Mediterranean Sea over the past decade while attempting to reach southern Europe from northern Africa. Although most deaths occurred off the coast of Libya, there has been an increase in departures and shipwrecks off the coast of Tunisia, with at least 729 deaths recorded in 2023 compared to 462 the previous year.

The IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, initiated in 2014, noted a shift in European sentiment towards refugees. Initially, there was greater sympathy and proactive measures such as Italy's “Mare Nostrum” mission, which saved thousands of lives. However, the rise of anti-immigration political parties across Europe has led to efforts to curb migration by funding Mediterranean countries like Tunisia and Egypt to control migrant flows.

In light of these recent incidents, the UN and other NGOs have renewed calls for EU governments to enhance Mediterranean search-and-rescue operations and expand legal and safe migration channels to prevent migrants from risking their lives at sea.

Read more: Migrant shipwreck

(Source: Al Jazeera)