Italy: At least two dead, 30 missing after two shipwrecks off Lampedusa

The Italian coastguard, on Sunday (August 6) said that it recovered two bodies and rescued 57 people off the southern island of Lampedusa after two shipwrecks. Meanwhile, the United Nations’ migration agency citing survivors’ testimony said that as many as 30 migrants are missing.

What do we know about the shipwrecks?

A report by Ansa news agency, citing survivors’ accounts, said that two migrant boats had set off from the Tunisian city of Sfax’s port and sank on Saturday on their way to Europe. According to the media report, one of the boats was carrying 48 people and the second 42.

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The two victims were identified as a woman from Ivory Coast and her one-year-old child, as per Ansa. The Italian coastguard said that the survivors were found 46 kilometres south-west of Lampedusa.

As per local media reports, at least 20 migrants had been stuck since Friday on a cliff after their boat crashed against rocks upon arrival in Lampedusa, however, the coastguard was unable to reach them via sea or helicopter.

NGO group Open Arms took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and said they were able to finally begin disembarking 195 rescued sea migrants in the southern Italian port of Brindisi after more than two days of sailing in rough seas.

This comes as the Italian government has adopted a policy that effectively assigns far-away ports to charity ships rather than letting them disembark rescued migrants in nearer Lampedusa or Sicily, in a bid to spread arrivals across the country.

The decision has since been criticised by NGOs who said that it increases their navigation costs, prolongs the misery of survivors, and reduces the amount of time charity ships can patrol the areas where shipwrecks are more common, reported Reuters.

As per reports, over 2,000 people arrived in Lampedusa in the last few days after being rescued at sea by Italian patrol boats and NGO groups.

IOM about those missing

The UN agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said around 28 people were reported lost at sea by survivors on one boat, while three were reported missing from the second after both rickety iron boats went down in stormy weather on Saturday.

Cultural mediators with the IOM believed there were “at least 30 people missing” after speaking to the survivors, press officer Flavio Di Giacomo told AFP.

Italy opens investigation into shipwrecks

The shipwrecks have since prompted Italian authorities in Agrigento, on the nearby island of Sicily to launch an investigation. Agrigento’s chief of police Emanuele Ricifari, said that the traffickers would have known rough seas were forecastin the region.

“Whoever allowed them, or forced them, to leave with this sea is an unscrupulous criminal lunatic,” he told the reporters, as quoted by AFP. He added, “Rough seas are forecast for the next few days. Let’s hope they stop. It's sending them to slaughter with this sea.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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