A group of migrants who set off from Sfax in Tunisia earlier this week were rescued by the Italian coast guard off the Sicilian Island of Lampedusa. At least five migrants are believed to have died, stated the coast guard, including a minor.
The 45 survivors who were rescued by the Italian coast guard from a metal boat about seven meters long told the coast guard that they believed the five missing, believed dead were two Senegalese nationals, two Gambians and a person originally from Sierra Leone.
The group said they had set off from the Tunisian coastal town of Sfax on Tuesday (December 2) and were rescued off the Sicilian Island of Lampedusa during the night of December 3-4. Those rescued are believed to have come originally from Gambia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, Guinea and Ivory Coast, reported the Italian online news portal Alanews.
According to another Italian news portal Meridionews.it, five of those on board were women and one baby was also on board the boat. The survivors told rescuers that during the journey, reported Meridionews, some migrants "fell into the sea, and were no longer able to climb back on board."
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'25 unaccompanied minors'
UNHCR spokesperson Filippo Ungaro said on X that the boat contained "25 unaccompanied minors." Ungaro said "a team from UNHCR Italia was present as the migrants were brought to shore."
The survivors have been brought to a reception center, known as a 'hotspot' on Lampedusa and are being looked after there by the Italian Red Cross and staff from the NGO Save the Children.
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Deaths, missing and arrivals
According to data from UNHCR, between 2013 and today, more than 20,000 migrants have died or are missing on the Mediterranean route towards Italy.
Last week, between November 24 and 30, 75 migrants arrived by boat in southern Italy. Since the beginning of the year, according to Italian government data, last updated on December 4, 63,783 migrants arrived by small boat. The number of arrivals is almost the same as the number that arrived in the same period last year (63,537) and far below the 152,882 people who arrived during that period in 2023.
The majority of arrivals in Italy by small boat are from Bangladesh. Bangladeshi nationals number 19,479 since January 1 this year. Egyptian nationals follow with almost 9,000 (8,815), and Eritreans number 7,499. People from Pakistan account for 4,321 arrivals, and those fleeing Sudan and Somalia number 3,913 and 3,372, respectively.
The number of unaccompanied minors this year has risen compared to the number of unaccompanied minors arriving last year. As of December 1, a total of 11,661 unaccompanied minors arrived by small boat in Italy, compared to 8,752 in the same period last year.
Disembarkation in Civitavecchia
On December 3, the NGO rescue ship Aita Mari, operated by the organization Salvamento Maritimo Humanitario (SMH), disembarked 26 migrants at the port of Civitavecchia, not far from the Italian capital Rome. It had rescued the group in the central Mediterranean. The rescue, reported the Spanish news agency EFE, took place more than 400 nautical miles from the port of disembarkation, and took two days to travel that distance.
Those rescued by the Aita Mari crew are reported to have come from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan and were also rescued about 40 miles off Lampedusa.
They had set off from Libya, reported EFE, and told rescuers they had been maltreated in Libya. When brought on board the Aita Mari, they were found to be malnourished, dehydrated and had skin infections resulting from overcrowded living conditions.
With AFP, EFE
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