At the very least six migrants have died and 40 had been lacking after a shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa, a spokesperson for the United Nations Refugee Company (UNHCR) mentioned on Wednesday.
The Italian Coast Guard mentioned individually it intervened after being alerted to a rubber dinghy in misery on Tuesday, discovering 10 survivors and 6 our bodies. The coast guard mentioned search and rescue efforts had been persevering with on Wednesday.
With unhealthy climate making operations harder, the coast guard mentioned it was being supported by plane provided by the military and the police, in addition to the European Union’s border company Frontex.
A UNHCR spokesperson mentioned survivors instructed rescuers many amongst a gaggle of 56 migrants — from Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Mali — fell into the water on account of unhealthy climate a couple of hours after setting off from the Tunisian metropolis of Sfax.
The rescued migrants had been being assisted in Lampedusa by the UNHCR and its accomplice company the Worldwide Rescue Committee (IRC), whereas the Italian Purple Cross was offering psychological assist, the spokesperson added.
Lampedusa sits within the Mediterranean between Tunisia, Malta and the bigger Italian island of Sicily, and is a primary port of name for a lot of migrants looking for to achieve the EU from North Africa, one of many world’s deadliest sea crossings.
Greater than 66,600 sea migrants arrived in Italy final yr, fewer than half of the 2023 determine, and round 9,000 have reached Italian shores up to now this yr, in accordance with figures from the Italian inside ministry.
This tiny Italian island is not outfitted to maintain up with the hundreds of migrants arriving from North Africa. An estimated 8,000 individuals have flooded Lampedusa previously week, doubling the island’s inhabitants and straining assets.
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