At least 26 dead after migrant boat capsizes off Italy

A boat carrying nearly 100 migrants capsized Wednesday in international waters off the Italian island of Lampedusa, killing at least 26 people and leaving about a dozen missing, according to the Italian coast guard and U.N. agencies.

Sixty survivors were rescued and taken to a center in Lampedusa, said Filippo Ungaro, a spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR in Italy. Survivor accounts estimate between 92 and 97 migrants were aboard the vessel when it departed Libya. Authorities continue searching for any remaining survivors.

The Italian coast guard confirmed the death toll at 26 but said the number is provisional and subject to change.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), about 95 migrants left Libya on two boats. When one began taking on water, passengers were transferred to the other fiberglass boat, which capsized due to overloading.

Lampedusa Mayor Filippo Mannino said the shipwreck likely occurred at dawn, though the exact time the migrants had been at sea is unknown.

So far this year, 675 migrants have died crossing the central Mediterranean, excluding the victims of this latest disaster, the U.N. refugee agency reported.

The migration route from North Africa to Southern Europe is among the world’s deadliest, with nearly 24,500 people dying or disappearing on the Mediterranean crossing over the past decade, according to the IOM. Most deaths involve overcrowded small boats departing Tunisia and Libya.

The deadliest shipwreck near Lampedusa occurred in October 2013, when a boat carrying over 500 migrants caught fire and capsized, killing at least 368 people.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose government has prioritized combating illegal immigration, vowed to continue fighting human traffickers and managing migration flows.

Meloni said, “Today’s tragedy, despite a ready international response, shows that rescue efforts alone are insufficient and do not address the root causes of this tragic problem.”