Key Points
- The shipwrecks were found by German aid group RESQSHIP.
- Survivors were taken to hospital where they were given first aid for their injuries.
- The United Nations says over 23,500 migrants have either died or gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea since 2014.
The Nadir rescue ship, which is operated by German aid group RESQSHIP, made its way to the Italian port of Lampedusa, towing the wooden vessel with the deceased on board and handed over all the injured people to the Italian coastguard.
A joint statement by the the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration and UN children’s agency UNICEF said that the vessel was carrying migrants from Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh and had set off from Libya.
Over 60 people missing from second shipwreck that set sail from Türkiye
Shakilla Mohammadi, a worker for the charity organisation Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières), said there were many children involved in the incident who remain missing.
This picture taken by the Italian Coast Guard shows a sailboat used by migrants half sank in the Mediterranean Sea between Italy and Greece. Source: AP / Italian Coast Guard
“Entire families from Afghanistan are presumed dead. They left from Türkiye eight days ago and had taken in water for three or four days. They told us they had no life vests and some vessels did not stop to help them,” she said in a statement.
Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean on the rise
It comes after 11 people were found dead off the coast of Libya earlier in June, following another deadly incident that caused the lives of 94 people when a migrant vessel that had set off from Türkiye was destroyed by rocks near the town of Cutro in Calabria.