Tragedy in Italy: 19 bodies recovered from a migrant boat
At least 58 survivors, five of them in critical condition, were taken to Lampedusa by the Coast Guard
The Italian coast guard recovered the bodies of 19 migrants and rescued 58 survivors from a boat that suffered a breakdown while trying to cross to Europe from Libya, rescue service officials and migrant rescue charities said Wednesday.
Some of the victims—18 men and one woman—appear to have died from hypothermia, according to a body for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
The survivors, including five children, were transferred to the island of Lampedusa. Three other people who were on board the vessel were still missing, according to a rescue official who preferred to remain anonymous.
Upon reaching the boat, the patrol officers found several lifeless bodies and proceeded to transfer the survivors and the deceased to begin a ten-hour journey to land.
Boat spent three days at sea
The spokesperson indicated that the vessel had departed from western Libya late Saturday or early Sunday, meaning it had been at sea for at least three days. Among the passengers were migrants from Niger, Nigeria, South Sudan, Ghana, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.
Health authorities point to hypothermia as the main cause of death, aggravated by a storm of rain and wind that is battering southern Italy with temperatures not exceeding 10 degrees Celsius.
According to Italian media, the death toll increased during the transfer to the Favarolo dock, where the patrol boat arrived after midday.
Among the survivors, at least five people – including a child – have been urgently transferred to the island's medical center in serious condition.
Death toll at sea rises
The German migrant rescue organization Sea-Watch stated that the 19 deaths were part of a recent increase in fatalities at sea. and estimated that at least 104 people had died in the Mediterranean in the past three days, including 18 people who drowned when their inflatable boat sank off the western coast of Turkey on Wednesday morning. “The situation is terrifying: people adrift at sea for days without any help,” Sea-Watch said in a statement.The IOM spokesperson estimated that the latest tragedy near Lampedusa brought the number of confirmed deaths in the central Mediterranean this year to 643, one of the highest figures since 2014.