Rome [Italy], August 7:Two migrant boats capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea over the weekend, with the fate of 30 missing people aboard still unclear.
Italy's coastguard said 57 migrants were rescued from the wrecks and the dead bodies of an adult woman and an 11-month-old toddler were recovered.
Among those missing are two children, according to the United Nations (UN) refugee agency UNCHR.
A video from the coast guard showed the dramatic rescue of people being pulled into lifeboats amid very high waves. Despite choppy seas, many migrants have recently attempted the treacherous boat crossing from North Africa to Lampedusa. About 20 migrants reached the island by boat on Friday, but landed in bay amid such rough waves that the coastguard was unable to rescue them by sea, according to the ANSA news agency. Mountain rescue workers managed to evacuate them over the cliffs on Sunday.
Around 28 people were reported lost at sea by survivors on one boat, while three were reported missing from the second after both went down in stormy weather on Saturday, said the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Both were rickety iron boats believed to have set off from Sfax in Tunisia on Thursday. One was carrying 48 people, the second 42, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Cultural mediators with the IOM believed there were "at least 30 people missing" after speaking to the survivors, press officer Flavio Di Giacomo told the AFP news agency.
An investigation into the shipwrecks has been opened in Agrigento, on the nearby Italian island of Sicily.
More than 2,000 people have arrived in Lampedusa in the last few days after being rescued at sea by Italian patrol boats and NGO groups, as strong winds further complicate the situation around the island.
Whoever sends the migrants off in boats in such swells is an "unscrupulous, crazy criminal", Emanuele Ricifari, the chief of police responsible for the island, told the news outlet agrigentooggi.it.
"Rough seas are forecast to continue for the next few days," he added. "It's carnage in this sea."According to the Ministry of the Interior in Rome, more than 90,000 migrants have reached Italian shores so far this year, more than twice as many people as in the same period last year. Most of those who are not intercepted off the North African coast are picked up by Italian government patrol ships or charity rescue ships and brought to initial reception centres.
In recent days, Italian patrol boats and charity groups have rescued another 2,000 people who have arrived on the island. The Red Cross has provided some of the migrants with food, water, clothes and emergency thermal blankets.
But the coastguard has said bad weather and the poor quality of the boats continue to hinder the rescue operations. In some instances, the engines are stolen from the boats at sea, so that traffickers can reuse them.
NGOs say Italy's far-right government has made their task more difficult by passing laws that have the effect of forcing rescue ships to use faraway ports. Charities have warned that this increases their navigation costs and reduces the amount of time ships can patrol the areas of the Mediterranean where such disasters are common.
The Italian Interior ministry said migration figures by sea had doubled this year to 92,000, compared with 42,600 recorded in the same period in 2022.
Source: Qatar Tribune
