Monday October 20, 2025
Mogadishu (HOL) — A migrant boat carrying around 35 people
sailing from Libya capsized in the central Mediterranean, leaving one confirmed
dead and about two dozen missing, UNICEF’s country coordinator for Italy said
on Sunday.
The Italian Coast Guard carried out the rescue operation on
Friday off the coast of Lampedusa island, saving 11 migrants — including four
unaccompanied children — and recovering the body of a pregnant woman, according
to UNICEF’s Nicola Dell’Arciprete.
The survivors and the recovered body were brought to
Lampedusa, while the remaining passengers remain unaccounted for. The boat
reportedly capsized after spending two days at sea, Dell’Arciprete added.
In a separate incident on Sunday, two migrants were found
dead and 14 others were in critical condition after Italian tax police
intercepted a vessel carrying 85 people from Pakistan, Eritrea, and Somalia,
the AGI news agency reported.
The critically ill migrants and the bodies were transferred
onto Coast Guard units about 16 nautical miles off Lampedusa and taken ashore
for medical treatment.
The waters off Lampedusa have seen a series of migrant tragedies
in recent days. On Friday, about 20 people were reported missing following
another shipwreck.
More than 32,700 migrants have died attempting to cross the
Mediterranean since 2014 — including an estimated one in five who were children
— according to data from United Nations agencies cited by Dell’Arciprete.