27 Migrants Dead After Boats Capsize Off Lampedusa

At least 27 migrants died and around 60 were rescued after two boats capsized off Lampedusa while crossing from Libya to Italy. Over 90 people were aboard, and survivors said one boat sank, forcing passengers onto the second, which also capsized. Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and the UN expressed condolences, highlighting the dangers of overcrowded, poorly maintained vessels. Since 2014, at least 25,000 people have died or gone missing on the central Mediterranean route.

At least 27 migrants have lost their lives after two boats capsized while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy. The tragic incident occurred off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa. Around 60 survivors were rescued from the water, while search and rescue operations continue in hopes of finding others.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 700 people have already died this year while trying to cross the central Mediterranean route, which remains one of the deadliest migration passages in the world. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni extended her “deepest condolences” to the victims’ families, while a UNHCR spokesperson expressed “deep anguish” over the loss of life.

Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesperson for the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), reported that over 90 people were aboard the two vessels before they capsized. One of the survivors, a Somali woman, shared a heartbreaking account with the Rome-based newspaper La Repubblica. She described how she lost both her one-year-old daughter and her husband in the chaos.
“All hell broke loose,” she recalled. “I never saw them again — my little girl slipped away, and I lost them both.”

The exact cause of the capsizing has yet to be confirmed. However, survivors told La Repubblica that the disaster unfolded when the first boat capsized, forcing its occupants to climb aboard the second vessel. This vessel, already overcrowded, began taking on water and also capsized.
“We had set out on two boats, but one capsized, so we all climbed aboard one of them. But then the other one also started taking on water,” a survivor recounted.

In an official statement, Prime Minister Meloni reflected on the tragedy:
“When a tragedy like today’s occurs, with the deaths of dozens of people in the waters of the Mediterranean, a strong sense of dismay and compassion arises in all of us. And we find ourselves contemplating the inhumane cynicism with which human traffickers organise these sinister journeys.”

Lampedusa, which houses a migrant reception centre, often struggles with overcrowding and difficult living conditions due to the large number of arrivals. Each year, tens of thousands of migrants survive the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to reach Europe, many of them travelling in poorly maintained, overcrowded boats.

According to IOM data, at least 25,000 people have been reported missing or have died while attempting to cross the central Mediterranean since 2014 — a stark reminder of the risks migrants face on this perilous route.