Sweep of migrants in Lampedusa: research continues, many missing

The research continued on Thursday to try to find migrants or the bodies of many people who were still missing after a sinking which left at least 27 dead off the coast of Lampedusa.

On the small Italian island, in the cemetery where the bodies of certain victims are preserved, two women came to lay flowers. “The least we can do is come and say a prayer for these people who were looking for a better life, they have made nothing and have died,” said one of them, Donata, questioned by AFP, and who refused to give his family name.

Among the bodies of 23 of the victims inspected to be identified, the authorities counted 13 men, 7 women and three minors, including a newborn baby. Coast guards have extended the perimeter of their research, which will last until Sunday.

The spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (OIM), Flavio Di Giacomo, reported on X of “approximately 95 people from Libya on two boats on Wednesday” but the Italian press agency Ansa mentions between 100 and 110 people. There could therefore be up to 23 missing.

Flamboyant

These migrants would have started from the surroundings of Tripoli at dawn on Wednesday, but after one of the two boats “took the water”, the passengers “climbed on the other, who capsized under the load,” explained Flavio Di Giacomo.

During the evening, around fifty people gathered for a torchlight vigil at the Madonna di Porto Salvo sanctuary, in tribute to the migrants who lost their lives on Wednesday. “The arrivals of migrants continue (…) our arms are always open but when these dead occur, it hurts us too much,” said AFP Angela, a resident of Lampedusa who participated in the vigil.

On a video broadcast Thursday evening by the Italian coast guards, we see a boat of the rescuers throwing a buoy at young migrants in the waves and who agripes there desperately. There are 60 survivors, including 21 minors, said officials of the Red Cross and the Migrants reception center on Lampedusa.

Somalis and Egyptians

The director of the center, Imad Dalil, said that 58 of the survivors are “in good health” while two others were evacuated by helicopter in Sicily to be treated. The majority of them are Somali, and some Egyptian.

Among them, a Somali lost her son and her husband, according to a testimony collected by the newspaper Il Corriere della will be. “I had my son in my arms and my husband by my side. I don’t know how, we found ourselves in the water. The waves both took them away, “she said.

People trying to reach Italy by Lampedusa, located just 145 km from the North African coast, often cross over overloaded or poor condition. The maritime road to the center of the Mediterranean is the most dangerous in the world for migrants, according to the International Organization for Migration (OIM).

More than 700 dead in 2025

“More than 700 refugees and migrants died in 2025 in the central Mediterranean,” deplored on X the head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi.

Despite the deadly shipwrecks, the boats continue to arrive day after day: four others were intercepted off Lampedusa on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, and Thursday evening forty people landed at the port of Lampedusa. According to the Red Cross, they were part of Libya and from Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The reception center currently houses 240 migrants, according to its director Imad Dalil.

The far right government of Giorgia Meloni, who came to power in October 2022 by promising to stop the arrivals of migrants, has passed agreements with countries from North Africa, bringing them funding and training against aid to fight against the departure of boats to Italy. According to the Italian Interior Ministry, more than 38,500 people arrived in Italy this year by sea.

AFP

Did you find an error? Please report it to us.