At least 20 migrants died after a boat overturned in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, with many more still missing, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) said.
“Deep anguish for the umpteenth shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa, where UNHCR is now assisting the survivors. It looks to be 20 bodies found and as many missing,” wrote the agency’s spokesman, Filippo Ungaro, on social media.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi confirmed the disaster, saying the shipwreck had occurred 14 nautical miles from Lampedusa.
The boat had been carrying 97 people when it turned over, Radio Radicale reported.
Details remained limited, but Save the Children Italy said that a baby girl, aged one-and-a-half, appeared to be lost in the shipwreck.
RaiRadio1 reported between 12 and 17 migrants missing, and said that 60 survivors had been transported to safety on the island.
The boat, which had already overturned, was spotted from the air by a plane from Italy’s financial police, it said.
Migrants heading to Italy from North Africa often cross in leaky or overcrowded boats via the central Mediterranean route, one of the world’s deadliest, and arrive in Lampedusa.
The UNHCR said Wednesday there have been 675 migrant deaths on the central Mediterranean route so far this year.
As of Wednesday, 38,263 migrants have arrived on Italy’s shores this year, according to the interior ministry.
Piantedosi wrote on social media that the episode underscored “the urgency of preventing, from the countries of departure, the dangerous sea journeys and of relentlessly combating the ruthless trafficking business that fuels this phenomenon.
The hard-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has cut deals with North African countries from which migrants embark, providing funding and training in exchange for help in stemming departures.
