Migrants, shipwreck in the Mediterranean: one survivor
Piantedosi: '50% fewer landings than in January 2025'. Estimated 380 deaths at sea in 10 days
by Giulia Riva
There is a man in hospital in Malta, admitted for treatment after spending 24 hours at sea clinging to the wreckage of the boat he left Tunisia with. The man, rescued in international waters by the motor vessel Star, said that at least 50 people - who were with him - died last Friday in a shipwreck in the central Mediterranean, of which he was the only survivor.
Since the evening of Friday 23 January, the Lampedusa harbour master's office has also searched the area where the shipwreck - confirmed by the authorities in Valletta - allegedly occurred, to no avail. The survivor reported that the group of migrants, having left the coast of Tunisia, sailed for 24 hours before taking on water. Alarm Phone has reported for days that it has had no news of people leaving Tunisia on three boats.
According to recent reconstructions, two one-year-old twins from Guinea also died off the coast of Lampedusa, after the overcrowded boat they were travelling on was battered by Cyclone Harry in the Mediterranean. This was said by Nicola Dell'Arciprete - Unicef's Migrant and Refugee Response Coordinator in Italy - who expressed his 'deepest condolences to the families and all those affected by this tragedy'. The two girls were travelling in an iron boat, just 9 metres long, which left from Sfax, Tunisia, on Wednesday 21 January. After almost two days of navigation in difficult conditions, 61 people - one of whom later died - were rescued by the Italian Coast Guard. An incident that highlights - underlines Dell'Arciprete - 'not only the extreme risks that girls, children and families run when crossing the Mediterranean, but also the desperation of these families to reach a safer place'.
According to a Unicef analysis of 2025, about one child per day dies or disappears while attempting to cross the central Mediterranean from Africa to Europe. "Many shipwrecks leave no survivors or are not recorded," Unicef recalls. "This means that the real number of people, including children, who have died or disappeared is virtually impossible to verify and is probably much higher," denounces Dell'Arciprete.
In the night between Saturday and Sunday the Sea-Watch 5 ship rescued 18 migrants who were on board a boat in difficulty in the Libyan Sar area. Among them were two small children. The port assigned for disembarkation is Catania "where we will arrive tomorrow", the NGO said.
