Migrant Boats Capsized Off Italian Coast, Mother and Baby Among Dozens of Casualties

Two migrant shipwrecks off the southern Italian island killed two people and left 30 others missing at sea, with 57 people rescued.

According to a BBC report, the two ships departed from the Tunisian port city of Sfax, each carrying 48 and 42 individuals.

The shipwrecks occurred in extremely stormy seas 23 nautical miles (46 km) south-west of Lampedusa.

Italian coastguards said the fatalities were a woman and her one-year-old baby from Ivory Coast.

Complex rescue operation

As of Sunday afternoon, 57 individuals had been rescued, and more than 30 were still missing.

The authorities said they conducted a "complex" rescue operation.

The Associated Press reported that two aircraft battled extreme winds to rescue migrants who had been stuck for over two days on a rocky reef on the island.

Medical professionals checked on two women, one of whom was in an advanced stage of pregnancy.

Maria Ylenia Di Paola, a nurse on Lampedusa, told Italian state television that the women were dehydrated and chilly, "but above all, they were psychologically tried."

The coast guard initiated the helicopter mission after determining that the rough sea would make it hard for rescue boats to approach the jagged cliffs safely.

The refugees on the reef had received food, water, and thermal blankets from Italian helicopters the day before.

According to local news website Agrigento Oggi, provincial police head Emanuele Ricifari said whoever permitted the migrants to sail in such harsh weather "is a crazy criminal with no scruples."

He also urged traffickers to stop their illegal activities.

"Rough seas are forecast for the next few days. Let's hope they stop. It's sending them to slaughter with this sea."

Migrant victim

The passengers on the boats are believed to be from sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the International Organization for Migration, a total of 1,814 migrants were known to have died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Italy in boats launched from Tunisia or Libya this year.

"The truth is that figure is likely to be much higher. Lots of bodies are being found at sea, suggesting there are many shipwrecks we never hear about," said IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo, as quoted by the Aljazeera.

Traffickers are sending migrants and refugees out to sea "in iron boats that cost less than the usual wooden ones but are completely unseaworthy, easily breaking up and sinking," he claimed.

In recent days, more than 2,000 individuals have been rescued at sea by Italian patrol boats and non-governmental organizations in the midst of severe winds near the island.

Crossing attempts from Sfax to Lampedusa have escalated since March of this year, after Tunisian President Kais Saied accused sub-Saharan migrants of attempting to change the nature of Tunisian society.

42,719 people had left Tunisia, where the EU agreed to a €1 billion (£860 million) accord last month to help reduce irregular migration.

Based on the data provided by Italy's interior ministry, over 78,000 individuals have arrived in Italy by boat since the beginning of the year, more than doubling the arrivals during the same period in 2022.

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