Six people are dead and 40 others are missing after a boat capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday, March 18.
The Italian Coast Guard rendered aid after spotting a rubber dinghy, often used to carry migrants, half submerged near the islet, according to The Guardian. Six bodies and 10 people were recovered, with survivors telling authorities that the boat had held 56 passengers at one point.
A United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson said survivors told rescuers many of the 56 migrants — who hailed from Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Mali — went overboard due to bad weather a few hours after setting off from Sfax, Tunisia, per Reuters.
The boat began to deflate a few hours after departing Tunisia, according to the UNHCR. Eventually, the passengers found themselves stranded.
Rescuers transported six bodies back to Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa along with the 10 survivors. The survivors are in stable condition and receiving the psychological care they need, the Associated Press reported.
The Italian Coast Guard and an aircraft from Frontex, a European Union border agency, assisted in the search for any remaining survivors, according to the outlet.
“The deaths in the Mediterranean of those who set out in search of a more dignified future point a finger towards our own inability to imagine a future capable of giving hope and horizons of life,” said Father Marco Pagniello, the director of the Italian unit for the Catholic church-run charity Caritas, per The Guardian.
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The disaster follows an increase of migrants making their way from North Africa across the Mediterranean in search of refuge. In January, 3,368 migrants arrived in Italy, according to The Guardian. The year prior, 2,258 migrants were reported.
Citing data from the International Organization for Migration, Frontex says 248 people have died trying to cross the Eastern Mediterranean in January and February 2025. Last year, the organizations estimated 2,300 people lost their lives or went missing in that migration corridor alone.
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