Aid group says 60 people dead after migrant transit across Mediterranean

The aid group SOS Mediterranee on Thursday said survivors told aid workers that at least 60 people died during a voyage that launched last week from Zawiya, Libya. That number included women and at least one child.

What happened? On Wednesday, the aid group said it rescued 25 people in a rubber boat spotted in what’s known as the Libyan SRR, or the Libyan Search and Rescue Region. The aid group called for an air evacuation for two unconscious people. The agency reported Thursday that helicopters flew those individuals to Sicily.

Is this sort of thing frequent? SOS Mediterranee on Thursday also reported at least two other incidents when local countries’ coast guards asked the organization to rescue hundreds of migrants stranded on different boats. The UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees has published data indicating that, since 2021, more than 10,000 migrants have died or gone missing while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

Dig deeper: Read Onize Ohikere’s report in World Tour about how a migrant shipwreck in the Mediterranean midway through last year highlights the situation in the region.