Some 40 migrants are missing after a boat wrecked off the Italian island of Lampedusa, the UN announced Friday, amid a series of similar tragedies in Italy, Greece, and Spain in recent days. Among the missing is at least one newborn baby, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokeswoman in Italy Chiara Cardoletti confirmed.
The boat, which departed from Sfax, Tunisia, had on board 46 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries, including Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon, International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo said. Due to bad weather conditions with strong winds and waves, the iron boat capsized. Some survivors were taken to Lampedusa and others to Tunisia, according to Di Giacomo.
The fragility of the iron vessels, with poor welding, was highlighted by the spokesman, who mentioned that they sink easily in the event of any breakdown. Di Giacomo expressed concern about shipwrecks that may occur if European boat patrols are not established to monitor migration routes from Tunisia and Libya, warning of a possible disaster this summer.
Both the UNHCR spokeswoman in Italy and Di Giacomo called for a coordinated and shared rescue-at-sea mechanism among states as a matter of conscience. The unacceptability of continuing to count deaths at the gates of Europe was denounced, referring to the recent deadly shipwrecks of migrants in Italy, Greece, and Spain.
Lampedusa, located 145 kilometers from the Tunisian coast, is one of the main entry points for migration across the Mediterranean. Boat wrecks have increased in recent months, and Frontex, the European border agency, reported that the number of migrant arrivals to the EU via the central Mediterranean has more than doubled in 2023 compared to the previous year.
In response to the growing migration crisis, the EU has concluded an agreement to reform its asylum system, which includes the creation of external border centers to facilitate the return of migrants whose asylum applications are rejected. The European Commission presented in September 2020 its Pact on Migration and Asylum, which seeks to strengthen external borders and establish flexible but mandatory solidarity among member countries in the handling of asylum seekers.