Authorities fear there may be "hundreds" of migrants missing and dead after "multiple deadly shipwrecks in recent days." The UN Migration Agency IOM has expressed "deep concern" after survivors' reports suggest hundreds may have lost their lives.
The IOM said it was currently verifying reports of "multiple deadly shipwrecks" in the Central Mediterranean in recent days.
"Several boats are believed to have been involved over the past ten days," stated an IOM press release on Monday (January 26), "with preliminary information suggesting that hundreds of people may be missing at sea or feared dead."
According to the IOM, "severe weather" conditions are significantly hampering search and rescue operations.
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Twin babies among those who died
Off the Sicilian island Lampedusa, where many migrants departing from countries in North Africa like Libya and Tunisia are headed, at least three deaths have been confirmed following search and rescue operations. Among the victims are thought to be one-year-old twin girls. Their mother, from Guinea, is reportedly one of the survivors on one boat found off Lampedusa. A man on the same boat, confirmed the IOM, "died shortly after arrival due to hypothermia."
According to reports by the French agency Agence France Presse (AFP) and the Qatari-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, the twin girls were on a boat, from which 61 people, 22 of whom were unaccompanied minors, were rescued.
The non-governmental organization in defense of children, Save the Childre,n said in a statement that survivors described "having departed from Tunisia, braving stormy seas for at least three days, and arriving in a state of great physical and psychological distress."
Survivors from that boat told the authorities that another boat had departed from Sfax in Tunisia at around the same time as theirs but never arrived. The IOM states there are "serious concerns that this vessel may have been involved in a further shipwreck."
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Malta: Information 'still incomplete'
Information is still incomplete, but one man who was recently picked up in the Maltese Search and Rescue zone by a commercial vessel reportedly told his rescuers that he survived a shipwreck from which at least 50 people could be missing or dead. This is according to reports by the Turkish Anadolu agency quoting the Times of Malta.
Malta’s Armed Forces told the Times of Malta that the man rescued by the commercial ship had been brought to Malta for medical treatment. The organization Alarm Phone, which monitors migrant journeys across the Mediterranean, added that the survivor had said that at least 50 people had died and that he had spent 24 hours in the water.
In addition, states IOM, the Italian Coast Guard is coordinating search operations to locate other boats reported missing or in distress in recent days. Some reports have suggested a further 51 people may have lost their lives in a shipwreck off the coast of Tobruk in Libya. The IOM is still seeking official confirmation of this report.
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'Where are they?'
Last week, Alarm Phone reported that around 150 people were missing in the central Mediterranean area, after at least three boats had departed Tunisia and not arrived. The organization tweeted a series of posts on the social media platform X starting on January 20 in which they highlighted the adverse weather conditions and said that authorities in both Tunisia and Italy had been informed of the boats and their possible locations.
On January 24, Alarm Phone tweeted: "Where are they? The three boats are still missing, and the travelers’ phones remain silent every time we call. We are very worried, as we have not heard from these people after so many hours." Sometimes migrants on board the boats themselves get in touch with Alarm Phone in the hope of rescue, at other points, relatives or friends of those on board might contact Alarm Phone to ask if they can help locate their loved ones.
Alarm Phone issued a severe weather warning on January 18, saying that winds could blow up to 100 kilometers per hour and waves could be up to eight or nine meters high. They warned that it would be "extremely dangerous to set sail, especially from the coasts of Libya and Tunisia."
One group that did set sail was "returned to Libya against their will," according to Alarm Phone. Despite the warnings, a wooden boat set sail with around 45 migrants on board on January 18. Alarm Phone was in touch with the group of migrants on board, saying that they were in a wooden boat and requesting "immediate rescue" because of the strong wind and high waves, the group said.
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Taken back to Libya?
According to Alarm Phone, that group may have been rescued by a vessel named Minerva Sophia. But the vessel, stated Alarm Phone on X, may have taken the people back to Libya. Alarm Phone said the merchant ship was "not responsive" when they tried to contact it, but that the Libyan coast guard had confirmed the disembarkation in Libya on January 21.
The website Marine Traffic, which details the live traffic of ships at sea, states that the Minerva Sophia is a crude oil tanker sailing under a Maltese flag. Its latest journey shows that it departed Libya on January 24 and is due to reach the Italian port of Taranto on Monday (January 26).
It is likely that the migrants it reportedly rescued were still in the Libyan search and rescue zone as they hadn’t made it far from the Libyan coasts, and so under the rules, the captain would have referred to the controlling MRCC in Libya for instructions about what to do with anyone rescued.
This practice though is highly criticized by human rights organizations and those who work with migrants. They insist that since Libya cannot be considered a safe place, no migrants should be returned there, even if a ship carries out a rescue in a zone designated under Libyan control.
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One of the most dangerous migration routes in the world
All these incidents, added the IOM press release, occurred during Cyclone Harry, "an exceptionally violent Mediterranean storm." The IOM says the smugglers who arranged departures when a severe storm was hitting the region are "reprehensible, as people were knowingly sent to sea under conditions amounting to a near-certain risk of death."
According to the IOM’s initial estimates, more than 1,000 people lost their lives on the Central Mediterranean route in 2025, making it one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world.
The actual number of deaths could be much higher, admits the IOM, because departures are unregistered, and so the list of dead and missing is reliant on survivor accounts or the discovery of bodies or a shipwreck.