At least 11 people have died, and more than 60 are missing following two shipwrecks off the coast of southern Italy, according to rescue officials.
On Monday, the German charity RESQSHIP rescued 51 people from a sinking wooden boat near the island of Lampedusa and discovered 10 bodies trapped in the lower deck. In a separate incident the same day, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that over 60 people, including 26 children, were missing.
The boats were carrying migrants who had departed from Libya and Turkey, as stated by UN agencies. Survivors from the shipwreck near Lampedusa were handed over to the Italian coastguard and brought ashore on Monday morning. The bodies of the deceased were being transported to the island by RESQSHIP.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the UN children’s agency UNICEF revealed that the migrants on the ill-fated boat had come from Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
