ROME: At least 26 migrants died Wednesday when two boats sank off the coast of Italy’s Lampedusa island, with around 10 others still missing, the coast guard and UN officials said.
Around 60 people were rescued after the sinkings in the central Mediterranean, a stretch between North Africa and Italy described by the UN as the world’s most dangerous sea crossing for migrants.
The two boats had left Tripoli, Libya, earlier in the day, according to the Italian coast guard.
It said one of the boats started taking on water, causing people to climb onto the other boat, which itself then capsized.
“Currently 60 people have been rescued and disembarked in Lampedusa, and (there are) at least 26 victims. The toll is still provisional and being updated,” the coast guard said in a statement.
Italy’s Red Cross, which manages Lampedusa’s migrant reception center, said the survivors included 56 men and four women, updating a previous toll of 22 dead.
Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesman for the UN’s migration agency (IOM), said around 95 people had been on the two boats.
Given how many had been saved, “approximately 35 victims are feared dead or missing,” he wrote on social media.
Among the first to be transported to the Lampedusa mortuary were the bodies of a newborn, three children, two men and two women, according to Italy’s ANSA news agency.
Lampedusa, just 90 miles (145 kilometers) off the coast of Tunisia, is often the first port of call for people trying to reach Europe in leaky or overcrowded boats.
In recent years, Italian authorities have sought to intercept the boats at sea before they arrive.
It was a helicopter from Italy’s financial police that spotted a capsized boat and several bodies in the water on Wednesday, about 14 nautical miles off Lampedusa, the coast guard said.
Five vessels were searching for survivors, including one from the EU’s Frontex border agency, alongside a helicopter and two aircraft, it said.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offered her “deepest condolences” to the victims and vowed to step up efforts to tackle migrant traffickers.
Her hard-right government took office in October 2022 vowing to cut the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.
As part of this, it has cut deals with North African countries from which migrants embark, providing funding and training in exchange for help in stemming departures.
“When a tragedy like today’s occurs, with the deaths of dozens of people in the waters of the Mediterranean, a strong sense of dismay and compassion arises in all of us,” Meloni said in a statement.
“And we find ourselves contemplating the inhumane cynicism with which human traffickers organize these sinister journeys.”
She said stepping up rescue efforts was not enough to tackle the scourge of trafficking, saying this could be done only by “preventing irregular departures and managing migration flows.”
The UNHCR refugee agency said Wednesday that there had been 675 migrant deaths on the central Mediterranean route so far this year.
As of Wednesday, 38,263 migrants have arrived on Italy’s shores this year, according to the interior ministry.
A similar number was recorded at the same time last year, but the figure is significantly less than in 2023, when almost 100,000 people had arrived by mid-August.
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At least 26 migrants dead in two shipwrecks off Italy
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At least 26 migrants dead in two shipwrecks off Italy
- Italian coast guard: ‘Currently 60 people have been rescued and disembarked in Lampedusa, and (there are) at least 26 victims’
- Giorgia Meloni: ‘When a tragedy like today’s occurs, with the deaths of dozens of people in the waters of the Mediterranean, a strong sense of dismay and compassion arises in all of us’
Portugal fears disruption in first general strike in 12 years
LISBON: Portugal braced on Thursday for its first general strike in 12 years, as unions urge action against the right-wing minority government’s planned workers’ rights reforms.
Widespread disruption is expected for public transport, schools, courts and hospitals, as workers protest against a draft law aiming to simplify firing procedures, extend the length of fixed-term contracts and expand the minimum services required during a strike.
The walk-out is expected to be Portugal’s largest since June 2013, when the country was forced to gut public spending in exchange for international aid after being engulfed by a debt crisis that affected several European nations.
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro insisted that the labor reforms, with more than 100 measures, were intended to “stimulate economic growth and pay better salaries.”
But the communist-leaning CGTP and more moderate UGT unions have lambasted the plans.
The CGTP is organizing about 20 demonstrations across the country. Its secretary general Tiago Oliveira called the reforms “among the biggest attacks on the world of work.” He told AFP the government action would “normalize job insecurity,” “deregulate working hours” and “make dismissals easier.”
Out of a working population of some five million people, around 1.3 million are already in insecure positions, Oliveira said.
- ‘Already a success’ -
Private sector unions are set to join the action.
The TAP Air Portugal national airline expects just a third of its 250 usual flights to get off the ground, while the national railway company has warned the disruption could spill over into Friday.
With Portugal set to elect a new president in early 2026, Oliveira said he considered the strike was “already a success” as it had drawn public attention to the government labor reforms.
“Without a doubt, we’ll have a great general strike,” the union leader added.
Public opinion is largely behind the action, with 61 percent of those polled in favor of the walk-out, according to a survey published in the Portuguese press.
On the eve of the strike, Montenegro said he hoped “that the country will function as normally as possible... because the rights of some must not infringe on the rights of others.”
Although his right-wing party lacks a majority in parliament, Montenegro’s government should be able to force the bill through with the support of the liberals — and the far right, which has become the second-largest political force in Portugal.
The left-wing opposition has accused Montenegro’s camp of not telling voters that workers’ rights roll-backs were on the cards while campaigning for the last parliamentary elections.
Although Portugal has recorded economic growth of around two percent and a historically low unemployment rate of some six percent, the prime minister has argued that the country should take advantage of the favorable climate to push through reforms.
Widespread disruption is expected for public transport, schools, courts and hospitals, as workers protest against a draft law aiming to simplify firing procedures, extend the length of fixed-term contracts and expand the minimum services required during a strike.
The walk-out is expected to be Portugal’s largest since June 2013, when the country was forced to gut public spending in exchange for international aid after being engulfed by a debt crisis that affected several European nations.
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro insisted that the labor reforms, with more than 100 measures, were intended to “stimulate economic growth and pay better salaries.”
But the communist-leaning CGTP and more moderate UGT unions have lambasted the plans.
The CGTP is organizing about 20 demonstrations across the country. Its secretary general Tiago Oliveira called the reforms “among the biggest attacks on the world of work.” He told AFP the government action would “normalize job insecurity,” “deregulate working hours” and “make dismissals easier.”
Out of a working population of some five million people, around 1.3 million are already in insecure positions, Oliveira said.
- ‘Already a success’ -
Private sector unions are set to join the action.
The TAP Air Portugal national airline expects just a third of its 250 usual flights to get off the ground, while the national railway company has warned the disruption could spill over into Friday.
With Portugal set to elect a new president in early 2026, Oliveira said he considered the strike was “already a success” as it had drawn public attention to the government labor reforms.
“Without a doubt, we’ll have a great general strike,” the union leader added.
Public opinion is largely behind the action, with 61 percent of those polled in favor of the walk-out, according to a survey published in the Portuguese press.
On the eve of the strike, Montenegro said he hoped “that the country will function as normally as possible... because the rights of some must not infringe on the rights of others.”
Although his right-wing party lacks a majority in parliament, Montenegro’s government should be able to force the bill through with the support of the liberals — and the far right, which has become the second-largest political force in Portugal.
The left-wing opposition has accused Montenegro’s camp of not telling voters that workers’ rights roll-backs were on the cards while campaigning for the last parliamentary elections.
Although Portugal has recorded economic growth of around two percent and a historically low unemployment rate of some six percent, the prime minister has argued that the country should take advantage of the favorable climate to push through reforms.
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