Among the 46 people on board, “some survivors were taken to Lampedusa and others brought back to Tunisia,” a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration said on Friday.
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A migrant boat was shipwrecked on Thursday, June 22, off the small Italian island of Lampedusa, leaving around 40 people missing, the spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Italy said on Friday. , Chiara Cardoletti.
Among the missing is at least one newborn, she said. The iron boat, which left Sfax, Tunisia, was carrying 46 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa (Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Cameroon), said a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM). ), Flavio DiGiacomo.
Very fragile iron boats
The boat, faced with bad weather conditions, including strong winds and large waves, capsized. “Some survivors were taken to Lampedusa and others brought back to Tunisia”said Flavio Di Giacomo. “Among the missing are seven women and a minor. The survivors are all adult men,” he added.
“It is unacceptable to continue counting the dead at the gates of Europe”, denounced for her part Chiara Cardoletti, in reference to the deadly shipwrecks of migrant boats that have already occurred in Italy, Greece and Spain. The spokesman also underlined the fragility of iron boats, badly welded, arriving from Tunisia and sinking at the first damage.
Located about 145 kilometers from the Tunisian coast, Lampedusa is one of the main entry points for migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Last year, more than 46,000 people landed there, out of a total of 105,000 arrivals in Italy, according to the UNHCR.