At least 26 refugees and migrants die in shipwreck off Italy’s Lampedusa

There are 60 survivors from the perilous journey from Libya, but a UN agency says there could be more people missing.

At least 26 people have died after two boats sank off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, and a United Nations agency says more refugees and migrants could be missing as search operations continue.

Rescue services on Wednesday rescued 60 survivors, with 56 men and four women brought ashore to Lampedusa, according to the Italian Red Cross and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesperson for the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), said around 95 people had been travelling on the two vessels.

Given that 60 people had been rescued, “approximately 35 victims are feared dead or missing”, he wrote on social media.

The disaster, involving people travelling from Libya, was the latest to befall refugees and migrants making the perilous Mediterranean crossing from Africa to Europe.

Rights groups and UN agencies have also documented systematic abuse against refugees and migrants in Libya, including torture, rape and extortion. In February, Libyan authorities uncovered nearly 50 bodies from two mass graves in the country’s southeastern desert, in the latest horror involving people seeking to make it to Europe through the North African country.

Since the beginning of this year, 675 people have died in the central Mediterranean while trying to make the crossing, said Filippo Ungaro, a UNHCR spokesperson in Italy.

An Italian law enforcement aircraft spotted a capsized boat with bodies in the water about 23km (14 miles) off Lampedusa on Wednesday morning, triggering a rescue operation, a source close to the matter told the Reuters news agency.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government has vowed to block the refugee and migrant sea journeys from Africa and has passed measures against human smugglers, including tougher jail terms, and has urged allies to do more to curb the migration attempts.