A sinking off the Italian island of Lampedusa on Wednesday August 13 “At least 26” Dead, announced the Italian coast guard, in a statement. Sixty people are among the survivors according to the Red Cross.
The spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (OIM), Flavio Di Giacomo, spoke “About 95 people left Libya on two boats”. They would be part of the around Tripoli in the early hours of the day, according to a press release from the Italian coast guard. After “One has taken the water”passengers “Have climbed on the other who capsized under the overload”he said, adding that there is “60 survivors” et « environ 35 » dead and missing.
Around noon, one of the small half-submerged boats was spotted by the Guardia Di Finanza, the equivalent of the customs police, which gave the alert, according to the coast guard, who sent a helicopter and an airplane to try to identify any survivors. The European Coast Guard Agency is also mobilized.
According to the Italian news agency Ansa, the bodies of a baby, 3 teenagers and 2 women are among the first corpses brought to the ground. Among the survivors, the Red Cross has counted 56 men and 4 women.
“675 dead since the start of the year in the central Mediterranean”
“At the end of the morning we welcomed 56 surviving people who left Libya, and four others were placed under observation. They are tested by the trip and the sinking, but are doing well ” told the Italian news agency Cristina Palma, the vice-director of the reception center for migrants, said hotspotlamped it.
“The umpteenth tragedy that occurred today in the central Mediterranean, 14 nautical miles from Lampedusa, deeply saddened”commented on the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Pierdosi, on the social network X. “This drama confirms, once again, the urgency of preventing, from the territories of origin, these dangerous trips at sea and to fight tirelessly (…) human traffickers ”he said again.
The government, far -right, of the president of the Italian council, Giorgia Meloni, has passed agreements with countries in North Africa where most migrants embark, bringing them funding and training against aid to fight against the departure of boats to Italy. According to the Italian Interior Ministry, 38,263 migrants arrived in Italy this year by sea.
“There have been 675 dead since the start of the year in the central Mediterranean”writes Filippo Ungaro, spokesperson for the UN High Commission for Refugees, in his message on X, calling for “Strengthen legal paths” d’immigration.