A boat with dozens of migrants sank this Saturday off the island of Lampedusa (southern Italy), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 40 people are missing, including seven women and a child.
The shipwreck occurred when the boat in which the migrants were traveling, who came from Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Conakry, Burkina Faso and Cameroon, capsized at sea due to strong winds and waves after leaving Sfax (Tunisia), as reported by the IOM spokesman for the Mediterranean, Flavio di Giacomo.
Four migrants were rescued and taken to the Italian island, while the rest, between 37 and 40 years old, are missing.
“This is one of the many shipwrecks that occur off Lampedusa, of which we are often not even aware, but we are convinced that there are many, more than in other years,” explained the spokesman, who attributed them to the type of vessel used by traffickers.
“[São] iron boats, very fragile, that break after a few hours. We have been seeing them since October and November, and only immigrants of sub-Saharan origin are forced to board them, because Tunisians use wooden boats, which are safer, which, deep down, is a form of discrimination, of racism.” . said Flavio Di Giacomo.
In statements quoted by EFE, the IOM spokesman said that the rescue services found several survivors in the water and highlighted the route between Tunisia and Italy as “the most dangerous this year” in the Mediterranean.
“Many precarious ships are sinking. It has become more dangerous than Libya and there are many dead. Before the sinking in Greece, we estimated that there were 1,039 dead in the central Mediterranean. I think there are certainly more than 1,500, we have to wait for the official number But we also believe that the real number is much higher, because there are many ships that sink that nobody knows, “he added.
According to the IOM spokesman, the arrival of summer will mean more attempts by migrants to cross the Mediterranean on these boats.
Already today, the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) team aboard the Geo Barents ship has rescued 13 people, including two women and two unaccompanied minors, who had been traveling in an unstable boat for three days, the non-governmental organization reported in the media. social. media.
“They assigned us the port of La Spezia, which is three and a half days from our current position,” revealed the organization, for which the Geo Barents joins the Spanish humanitarian ships Aita Mari and Open Arms, sent in recent days. to Salerno (south) and Livorno (north).
According to Interior Ministry records, 58,171 migrants arrived on Italian shores in 2023, more than double the 24,808 who arrived in the same period last year.
Source: TSF
