Migrants

Shipwreck in Libyan Sar area: 80 missing, 32 people saved

Save the Children: Easter of pain in the Mediterranean

5 April 2026Aggiornato alle 8:00 di lunedì 6 aprile 2026

foto simbolica . ANSA/ZUHAIR ABUSREWIL ANSA

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Thirty-two migrants were rescued
Save the Children: Easter in the Mediterranean
Mons. Perego (Cei): "Everything is thought of this Easter except them"

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Thirty-two migrants were rescued in the Libyan Sar area by the Italian Coast Guard. Two dead bodies were also recovered. The Pakistani, Bengali and Egyptian migrants who were on board the boat were found in the open sea. The boat, which had departed from Tripoli, capsized and the migrants were in the water for some time before being rescued. Some of the 32 survivors, who were disembarked in Lampedusa in a state of severe shock, said they had left 'in 110'. About 80 people were said to have ended up in the sea and drowned.

"We left in 110". This was told by some of the 32 survivors, who arrived at Favarolo pier in Lampedusa after being rescued in Libyan Sar waters. Sar ("Search and Rescue") waters are internationally defined maritime areas where a state is responsible for coordinating search and rescue operations. Established by the Hamburg Convention (1979), these zones often extend beyond territorial waters to international waters.

Some eighty people would therefore have been found (Mediterranean Saving Humans, in a post on X, speaks of "more than 70")the people who ended up in the sea and drowned before the arrival of the patrol boat Cp327 of the coast guard, which was joined by the sailing ships Ievoli Grey and Saavedra Tide. The search for possible missing persons, as indicated by the survivors, is ongoing and operations are being coordinated by the Libyan Coast Guard. Mediterranean Saving Humans speaks of "yet another shipwreck, not a tragic fatality, but a consequence of the policies of European governments, which refuse to open legal and safe channels of entry".

Thirty-two migrants were rescued

The military also recovered two bodies. The Pakistani, Bengali and Egyptian on board were found in the open sea. The 12-15 metre barge in which they had set sail from Tripoli, Tajoura, capsized 70 miles off the Libyan coast and the refugees were in the water for some time before being intercepted and rescued. Aerial photos, taken at the time the alarm was raised, captured the shipwreck.

Save the Children: Easter in the Mediterranean

"On Easter Day, which for many people represents a time of rebirth and hope, we instead find ourselves mourning new lives broken off the coast of Libya. Once again, men, women and children have faced a desperate journey to Europe, and once again the Mediterranean has turned into a border of death. According to reports, the number of missing persons is not yet known, nor whether there are minors among them'. Thus, in a note, Save the Children, present with a team in Lampedusa and operating to ensure an immediate response to the needs of the survivors, including a minor".

"Since 2014, almost 34,500 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean in an attempt to reach a possible future. This year alone, the victims are already more than 800, and among them there are also many children: more than 100 every year in the last three years - says the NGO - The absence of a coordinated European search and rescue mechanism continues to constrain thousands of people to take increasingly dangerous routes, leaving rescue to chance or the goodwill of individual states."

And again: "Until safe routes and a structured rescue system are in place, we will continue to witness tragedies that could be avoided. Save the Children reiterates the need to open regular and safe channels to Europe, in full respect of human rights, to activate a coordinated and structured search and rescue system in the Mediterranean and to ensure that boats engaged in saving lives, be they NGOs or merchant vessels, are not obstructed".

Mons. Perego (Cei): "You think about everything this Easter except them"

"Even at Easter, news reaches us of missing and dead people in the centre of the Mediterranean. Men, women and children for whom Easter did not mean life, but death". Monsignor Carlo Perego, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference's Commission on Immigration, as well as president of the Migrantes foundation, tells Adnkronos all of his outrage after the new shipwreck. "We think of everything this Easter except them, people fleeing wars fought even with our weapons. Some people are surprised and irritated because we talk about death, about rights denied this Easter.They are the Herods of communication and politics,' the j'accuse.

"We hope that Europe will raise its eyes to the Mediterranean and finally," says Perego, "protect those seeking asylum, with a European mission in the Mediterranean and the cessation of agreements with Libya, where the same people who stop and transport people fleeing to camps in the Mediterranean are the same ones who profit by putting them at sea. The Almasri case proves this. Instead, Italia and Europe are incapable of protecting the interests of the fleeing migrants, who have been growing in number for ten years now and are increasingly alone. It is a disgrace'.