19 migrants have lost their lives as the Italian Coast Guard conducts rescue operations for survivors off the coast of Lampedusa

Nineteen migrants were discovered deceased near Lampedusa, while the Italian coastguard successfully rescued survivors, some of whom have been hospitalized following a dangerous attempt to cross the Mediterranean.

The bodies of 19 migrants have been recovered by the Italian coastguard from an inflatable boat south of Lampedusa, after a rescue operation conducted in the early hours of Wednesday.

According to coastguard spokesman Roberto D’Arrigo, a total of 58 individuals, including five children, were discovered alive and taken to Lampedusa.

Filippo Mannino, the mayor of Lampedusa, reported that seven survivors, among them two children, are currently receiving medical care for “hypothermia and intoxication from hydrocarbon fumes.”

The rescue occurred approximately 135 kilometres from the Italian island, within the search-and-rescue waters of Libya. An Italian reconnaissance plane spotted the vessel drifting on Tuesday, with no nearby Libyan coastguard or civilian ships available to provide assistance.

Authorities subsequently sent an Italian coastguard vessel from Lampedusa to take action.

D’Arrigo stated that some of the migrants might have perished during their transport back to shore as a result of harsh weather conditions, with waves reaching heights of up to seven metres.

Images published by ANSA news agency depicted what seemed to be body bags being unloaded from a coastguard vessel at a quay.

Lampedusa serves as a crucial entry point for migrants undertaking the perilous Mediterranean journey from North Africa, a path that persistently takes lives.

“We are profoundly distressed by yet another heartbreaking event in the Mediterranean,” stated the UN refugee agency in a message on X, noting that its representatives were “offering immediate assistance to the survivors.”

The International Organization for Migration reports that at least 624 migrants have either died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean this year.

A recent tragedy echoes a similar event from August of the previous year, when 27 individuals lost their lives in two shipwrecks near Lampedusa.

According to data from Italy’s interior ministry, 6,117 migrants have reached the country’s shores this year.

On Wednesday, a tragic incident occurred in which 19 Afghan migrants, including a baby, lost their lives when an inflatable dinghy sank in the Aegean Sea off the southwestern coast of Turkey after coming into contact with a Turkish coastguard vessel.