20 Migrants Missing After Shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea
Rescue of shipwrecked migrants in the Mediterranean. X/ @andreabandieri4
January 1, 2025 Hour: 12:40 pm
Among the survivors is an eight-year-old Syrian boy who lost his mother in the shipwreck.
On Wednesday, Italian authorities are searching for 20 missing migrants—including five women and three children—following a shipwreck last night in the Central Mediterranean near the island of Lampedusa.
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Search efforts have continued without success since the small vessel sank a short distance from Lampedusa, with only seven people rescued by an Italian Coast Guard patrol.
Among the survivors is an eight-year-old Syrian boy who lost his mother in the shipwreck, as well as two Sudanese nationals and two Egyptians.
“The boy was travelling with his mother, who is currently missing. A relative saved him by hugging him tightly. Last night, via video call, the little boy contacted his father, who lives and works in Germany,” Corriere della Serra reported.
“They didn’t manage to touch the ground… today, coinciding with the end of the year, there is a very strong hope that this tragedy will really be the last,” Lampedusa Mayor Filippo Mannino said.
The vessel had departed from the port of Zuwara, on Libya’s coast, continuing along the so-called Mediterranean Route—one of the world’s most dangerous and deadly migration pathways—through which migrants attempt to reach Italian territory to proceed onward to other European countries.
The survivors are in good health and were transferred to a reception center on Lampedusa, one of the Italian islands closest to the northern African coast.
Over 66,300 people disembarked in Italy via the Mediterranean in 2024, a significantly lower figure compared to the more than 157,650 recorded in 2023, according to data from the Italian Interior Ministry.
teleSUR/ JF Sources: EFE – Corriere della Sierra
