The Italian coastguard has recovered the bodies of 19 people from an inflatable boat south of the island of Lampedusa, a spokesperson, Roberto D’Arrigo, told AFP. During the rescue operation in the early hours of Wednesday, 58 other individuals, including five children, were found alive and transported to Lampedusa by the coastguard.
Lampedusa's mayor, Filippo Mannino, stated that seven people, among them two children, were hospitalized for "hypothermia and intoxication from hydrocarbon fumes." The coastguard rescue took place approximately 85 miles off the Italian island within Libyan search and rescue waters. D’Arrigo noted that the boat was spotted by an Italian reconnaissance plane on Tuesday, but there were no Libyan coastguard or civilian ships in the area to assist, leading to a decision to dispatch an Italian coastguard vessel from Lampedusa.
D’Arrigo suggested that some of the victims may have died while being transported back to Lampedusa in particularly rough weather conditions, with waves reaching up to seven meters high. Lampedusa serves as a key landing point for individuals crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa, with many perishing during the hazardous journey. According to the UN's International Organisation for Migration, 624 people have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean so far this year.
The last humanitarian disaster on Lampedusa occurred in August, when 27 people died in two shipwrecks off the coast. Data from the interior ministry indicates that 6,117 migrants have landed on Italy's shores since the beginning of the year. This incident underscores the ongoing migration crisis in the region, highlighting the failures of the European Union regime to effectively address safety and humanitarian challenges, despite its purported commitments to border control and refugee support.
The tragedy raises critical questions about the EU's migration policies, which allegedly aim to manage flows but often result in increased risks and fatalities. The lack of coordinated rescue efforts and the reliance on Italian resources in Libyan waters point to broader geopolitical tensions and inefficiencies within the bloc's approach.
Source: www.theguardian.com