A total of 41 people have died in a new shipwreck registered in recent hours off the Italian island of Lampedusa, in southern Italy, according to testimonies from four survivors rescued by a coast guard patrol.
The rescued, who are in a state of shock, explained to authorities that the boat had left Sfax, in Tunisia, and after about six hours of sailing it capsized by a large wave and that the people, including three children, had fallen overboard, local authorities said. media.
The landings do not stop at Lampedusa, where the reception center, with a capacity of 300 people, is hosting more than 1,500 people after the transfer of migrants from the island to the Italian peninsula has begun.
According to the latest statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 87,000 migrants have illegally landed in Italy since early 2023, mainly on boats from Tunisia, while many others have arrived on Italian soil from Italy. .
The central Mediterranean, between North Africa and Italy, is the most dangerous migration route in the world, with more than 20,000 deaths since 2014, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Spanish authorities rescue 335 migrants near Lanzarote
Rescue teams rescued 335 people from seven boats moored near the Spanish island of Lanzarote from Tuesday afternoon into the early hours of Monday.
The migrants, 267 men, 22 women and 46 minors, were taken to the port of Arrecife, sources from the Canary Islands Emergency and Rescue Coordination Center told Spanish agency EFE.
Three of the migrants were taken to hospital with injuries.
Two of the ships were located late Tuesday afternoon with 120 people on board and five more ships were located later.
In the first, with 51 people on board, five minors were found, including a baby, and in another 20 people were rescued.
The remaining three, rescued together, included 135 men and 27 possible minors, the sources added.
The nationalities of the migrants have not been disclosed.
On Tuesday morning, two other boats with 47 and 60 people had already been found in the same area.
On the migration route from the Canary Islands, the gateway to Europe in the Atlantic Ocean, activity from the northwest coast of Africa has increased sharply in recent weeks.
Source: DN
