The region of the island of Lampedusa is regularly the theater of intervention of the Italian coast guards to save migrants in makeshift boats in perdition (photo of illustration, archives).
Photo: KEYSTONE/AP Italian Coast Guard
A sinking off the Italian island of Lampedusa left around 20 dead, said on Wednesday on the social network X A spokesperson for the UN High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR.
‘Deep anxiety after the umpteenth shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa, where the HRC assists the survivors,’ wrote Filippo Ungaro, this spokesperson, on his X account, adding that there seems to be ’20 corpses found, and as much disappeared ‘.
A radical radio journalist, Sergio Scandura, indicates on X that the boat was carrying 97 people when she was around 20 kilometers from the southwest of Lampedusa.
The Rairadio1 chain reports 12 to 17 missing migrants, and affirms that 60 survivors have been brought back safely on the island.
Migrants who try to join Italy by Lampedusa from North Africa often cross in overloaded or flee, by the maritime road at the center of the Mediterranean, particularly dangerous.
‘There have been 675 dead since the start of the year in the central Mediterranean’, writes Filippo Ungaro in his message on X, calling for ‘strengthening the legal paths’ of immigration.
According to the Italian Interior Ministry, 38,263 migrants arrived in Italy this year by sea.
/ATS
