- Forty-one feared dead in migrant shipwreck in central Mediterranean

Italian authorities have reported that 41 migrants are believed to have died in a shipwreck in the central Mediterranean. Survivors who were taken to the island of Lampedusa have provided accounts of the incident. Local public prosecutor Salvatore Vella has confirmed that four survivors stated they were on a boat carrying 45 people, including three children. Vella’s office has initiated an investigation into the shipwreck. The boat, which was 7 meters long, departed from Tunisia’s Sfax, a hotspot in the migration crisis, and capsized after a few hours due to a large wave. The survivors were rescued by a cargo ship and then transferred to an Italian coast guard vessel before disembarking in Lampedusa. The migrants, who arrived in Lampedusa exhausted and in shock, will be questioned by the police. It is presumed that they spent several days adrift at sea without food or water. The Italian coast guard has not provided any comment on the incident. However, a source familiar with the matter has stated that the shipwreck experienced by the survivors is unlikely to be one of the two shipwrecks reported by the coast guard on Sunday. The coast guard had previously announced the rescue of 57 people and the recovery of two bodies, with reports suggesting that at least one of the sunken boats also departed from Sfax on Thursday. In a separate incident, Tunisian authorities have recovered 11 bodies from a shipwreck near Sfax, with 44 migrants still missing. Italy has experienced an increase in migrant boats this year, with approximately 93,750 arrivals by sea, compared to 44,950 in the same period last year.