Seventy-one people are missing after a migrant boat that left Libya came apart in the central Mediterranean over the Easter weekend. Two merchant vessels reached the wreck and pulled 32 survivors from the water. They also recovered two bodies.
The figures come from the survivors themselves, relayed by the rescue groups Mediterranea Saving Humans and Sea-Watch. The survivors told the charities their boat had started out with 105 people aboard.
Sea-Watch released video of the approach. It shows about a dozen people clinging to a capsized orange boat as the merchant ship closed in. The survivors and the two dead were later transferred to an Italian coast guard patrol boat and taken to the island of Lampedusa.
Italy’s interior ministry said it had no comment. The Italian Coast Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sunday was Easter, a major holiday in Italy.
The numbers are bad in a year that was already bad. The International Organization for Migration estimates that at least 683 people have died in the central Mediterranean so far this year, one of the highest tolls since 2014. Bad weather has roiled the sea this year. Fewer boats have left North Africa as a result, and the ones that do put out face grave trouble.
As ever, the detail that matters is the ratio. Of 105 people, 32 came out alive.
Sources
- Ships near Italy rescue 32 migrants, 71 lost at sea, charities say
- Mediterranean Tragedy Deepens as 71 Migrants Reported Missing off Italy
