At least 20 people died after the sinking of a boat that welcomed migrants, off the coast of Lampedusa in Italy, this Wednesday, August 13, said a spokesman for the UN High Commission of the UN refugees, UNHCR.
“Deep anxiety after the nasty shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa, where the HRC helps the survivors,” said Filippo Ungaro, this spokesman, in his X account, and added that there seems to be “20 bodies found, and so much disappeared.”
According to our colleagues in Corriere della Serra, at least one baby is one of the victims.
60 survivors brought back to the island
A radical radio journalist, Sergio Scandura, indicates in X that the boat took 97 people when it was about 20 kilometers from the southwest of Lampedusa.
The Rairadio1 chain reports 12 to 17 missing migrants, and states that 60 survivors have been safely returned on the island.
Migrants trying to arrive in Italy by Lampedusa in North Africa often cross in overload or damaged ships, by maritime road in the center of the Mediterranean, particularly dangerous.
“There have been 675 dead since the beginning of the year in the Central Mediterranean,” writes Filippo Ungaro in his message about X, asking “to strengthen the legal paths” of immigration.
According to the Italian Interior Ministry, 38,263 migrants arrived in Italy this year per sea.
Source: BFM TV
