UNHCR, 90 dead or missing in Central Mediterranean in June

(ANSA) - ROMA, 04 LUG - 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 (ANSA).