UNHCR, 90 dead or missing in Central Mediterranean in June

The United Nations Agency for
Refugees (UNHCR) identified 90 migrants among those dead or
missing in the Central Mediterranean in June. This is equivalent
to three people a day, although this figure represents an
underestimation because it is based on the information collected
by the personnel present at the moment of disembarking
operations on the Italian coasts.

   

According to data collected by UNHCR staff in the field in June,
the number of deaths and the number of persons missing reached
90, equivalent to three per day. This figure is an
underestimation, underscores the Agency because it is based only
on the information collected by the personnel present during
disembarking operations in Italy.

   

The majority of the victims are those coming from Bodrum

The total number of victims is 66, while 24 persons are still
missing. Among the victims, 12 bodies, were identified by the
Sea Watch NGO plane called Seabird to the north of Tripoli. The
bodies were recovered by the NGO ships Geo Barents and Ocean
Viking during the second weekend of the month. On 17 June 54
survivors disembarked on the isle of Lampedusa. They had
survived a shipwreck of a wooden boat coming from Zuwarah, in
Libya. Ten bodies suffocated below deck due to the explosion of
a petrol tank. On the same day, 11 survivors from a shipwreck
and one body were disembarked in Roccella Jonica, in Calabria.

   
After the engine exploded, the boat that had left from Bodrum,
Turkey, capsized at 110 nautical miles from the Italian coast.

   
The survivors resisted for four days at sea before being
rescued. A total of 41 bodies were recovered, while 24 persons
are still missing.

   

The majority of arrivals registered in Lampedusa

Again, according to the UNHCR, the total number of persons who
arrived on the Italian coasts in June is slightly under 4,700.

   
The figure is aligned with the one of the previous month
(4,976). In January, February, March, and April the number of
arrivals was respectively 2,258, 2,301, 6,857, and 4,721. The
persons arriving on the Italian coast in June had left from
Libya, Tunisia, and Turkey. However, in June Libya was the first
country for number of arrivals by sea in Italy, equivalent to
66% of the total number of arrivals. A total of 61% of those who
arrived in June disembarked in Lampedusa. Other ports that
registered arrivals include Roccella Ionica, Genoa, Augusta, and
Catania. From the beginning of the year, the main nationalities
of those arriving have been: Bangladesh (21%), Syria (15%),
Tunisia (13%), Guiney (8%), Egypt (6%), Pakistan (4%), The
Gambia (3%), Mali (3%), Sudan (3%), and the Ivory Coast (3%).

   

Picture shows coffins of migrants found dead in the hatch of the
hold of the boat on which they were travelling, landed on the
pier of Porto Empedocle, Italy, 19 June 2024, after their
departure from Libya. PHOTO/ANSA/CONCETTA RIZZO

   

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