Seven rescued, 21 missing after shipwreck with migrants off the Italian coast of Lampedusa

ROME – Seven people have been rescued and 21 are missing at sea after a ship carrying migrants sank off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa, Italian news reports and U.N. officials said Wednesday.

The survivors were Syrian nationals who told rescue workers that three children were among the missing, reports said.

The seven survivors were rescued by the coast guard and said they were on a boat with 28 people on board that had left Libya a few days ago.

Nicola Dell'Arciprete, UNICEF Country Coordinator for Italy, denounced “another tragic shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa”.

“Most survivors say they have lost family members. We are on site with our response teams,” he wrote on X.

The central Mediterranean is one of the world's deadliest migration routes. According to the UN migration agency (IOM), more than 2,500 migrants died or went missing while attempting to cross the Mediterranean last year. This year, the number had risen to 1,047 as of Tuesday.

The latest figures from the Italian Interior Ministry show that just over 43,000 migrants have reached Italy so far in 2024, significantly fewer than in previous years. REUTERS