At least 19 migrants were found dead and 58 others were rescued after a crowded dinghy ran into distress in rough Mediterranean waters near Lampedusa, highlighting the continued dangers of the central migration route to Europe.
The rescue took place Tuesday night with the Italian coast guard operating in the Libyan search and rescue zone during rough weather conditions, said spokesperson Roberto D’Arrigo on Wednesday.
"We were the only ones able to intervene, as there were no other ships or rescue teams in the area. Sea conditions were pretty extreme, with waves of more than 6-7 meters (20-23 feet),” he said.
D’Arrigo said the migrants had probably departed from Libya. The victims likely died of hypothermia but the cause of the deaths still needs to be verified.
The survivors were brought to Lampedusa after a 10-hour trip and are in the care of local health services, the coast guard said.
The tiny island of Lampedusa is the main entry point to Europe for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa, with thousands dying during the perilous journey.
Most of the deaths have been attributed to small boats setting off from the coasts of Tunisia and Libya.
The most recent deadly shipwreck off Lampedusa happened in August last year, when a boat carrying nearly 100 migrants capsized in international waters, killing at least 26 people.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokesperson estimated the latest tragedy near Lampedusa brought the number of known deaths in the central Mediterranean this year to 643 – one of the highest tolls since 2014.
The spokesperson said among those on board were migrants from Niger, Nigeria, South Sudan, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Bad weather has roiled the Mediterranean this year, limiting the number of departures from North Africa, and posing grave problems for those who have managed to put to sea.
Latest Italian interior ministry data says 6,117 migrants have reached the country by boat so far this year against 9,215 in the same period of 2025, and 11,416 in the first three months of 2024.
