41 Perish In Migrant Shipwreck Off Italy’s Lampedusa Island

As reported by survivors who have recently arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa on Wednesday, 41 migrants died in a shipwreck last week in the central Mediterranean.

Four survivors told rescuers that they were on a boat carrying 45 passengers, including three children.

The boat started off on Thursday morning from Sfax, Tunisia, a hotspot in the migration crisis, but overturned and drowned after a few hours, according to survivors.

Three men and a woman from Ivory Coast and Guinea stated they were rescued by a cargo ship and taken to an Italian coast guard vessel.

The coast guard did not reply quickly to a request for comment.

According to media sources, at least one of the sinking boats left Sfax on Thursday, prompting the coast guard to say they had rescued 57 survivors and two bodies.

Separately, Tunisian authorities announced on Monday that 11 dead had been discovered in a shipwreck near Sfax on Sunday, with 44 migrants still missing.

According to interior ministry data last updated on Monday, Italy has had approximately 93,700 migrant landings by sea this year, compared to 44,700 in the same period in 2022.

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