Twenty-One Migrants Missing in New Shipwreck in the Sicilian Channel

Twenty-one migrants, including three children, remain missing in the Central Mediterranean after their boat capsized while attempting to reach Europe. The vessel had departed from the Libyan port of Sabratha, west of the country, last Sunday afternoon. Out of the twenty-eight people who boarded the boat, originating from Syria and Sudan, only seven managed to survive by clinging to the hull after it overturned following a day of navigation in Libyan territorial waters.

These seven Syrian men endured three days and nights without water or food while battling the sea until they were finally rescued by an Italian Coast Guard patrol boat. They were then taken to the migrant reception center on the island of Lampedusa, arriving on Wednesday morning.

The Italian Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation to determine the causes of the incident, as it remains unclear whether the boat capsized due to a wave strike, an engine problem, or other reasons. The survivors, some of whom were slightly hypothermic due to prolonged exposure to water, were exhausted and received medical attention at Lampedusa's medical center.

They recounted that after the boat overturned, they were left without food, water, or phones to call for help. Rescue finally arrived after three days adrift when they were located by agents of an Italian Coast Guard patrol boat in Italian territorial waters.

So far in 2024, 1,047 migrants have died or gone missing on the Central Mediterranean route, according to UN data, confirming it remains the deadliest route in the world. There were 2,192 during the same period last year.

This decrease in fatalities is due to a reduction in flows along this route in recent months, thanks to agreements reached by the European Union and Italy with Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt to strengthen border controls in exchange for substantial financial and material aid.

In fact, Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi recently celebrated that the Libyan Coast Guard, equipped with patrol boats donated by Italian authorities who also train their crews, has "intercepted at sea and returned" 15,117 people to North Africa so far in 2024.

During this period, 43,061 migrants have landed on Italian shores after crossing the Sicilian Channel—a 60% decrease compared to the same period in 2023 when there were 115,177. These positive figures recently led Piantedosi's deputy minister Nicola Molteni to assert that "while last year the emergency was in Lampedusa, now it is in the Canary Islands, Spain."