According to the account of a survivor, at least 30 migrants are missing following the capsizing of two boats off the Italian island of Lampedusa, as announced by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Sunday.
About 28 passengers from the first boat and three from the second are currently lost at sea after the boats capsized due to poor weather conditions, IOM said. The situation remains very worrying as search and rescue efforts are underway. The boats were small metal craft apparently departing Thursday from Sfax, Tunisia.
After speaking with survivors, IOM officials estimate that “at least 30 people are missing,” press officer Flavio Di Giacomo told AFP. An investigation into the shipwrecks has been opened in Agrigento, in neighboring Sicily. Agrigento police chief Emmanuele Ricifari, who is in charge of the investigation, stressed that bad weather was announced. “Those who allowed them to leave, or forced them to leave, are unscrupulous criminal lunatics,” he told Italian media.
“Rough seas are forecast for the next few days. Hopefully they will stop ‘sending people,’ ‘through this sea, it’s sending them to the slaughterhouse,’ he added.