The boat “capsized repeatedly, leaving individuals clinging to the facet of the boat as their members of the family drowned round them,” Nicola Dell’Arciprete, the UN Youngsters Company (UNICEF) nation coordinator for Italy, stated in an announcement posted on-line.
The survivors, all male Syrian nationals, instructed rescuers that they had embarked from Libya and that 21 of the 28 individuals aboard, together with three youngsters, had fallen into the ocean throughout tough climate.
A number of Sudanese have been additionally on the boat in line with the Italian workplace of the UN refugee company (UNHCR).
The lethal Mediterranean crossing
The central Mediterranean is among the many deadliest migration routes on the earth, in line with the latest Missing Migrants Project from UN migration company IOM.
The IOM discovered that greater than 2,500 migrants died or went lacking making an attempt the crossing final 12 months alone, and over 1,000 extra to this point this 12 months.
Typically, one in three migrants die whereas fleeing battle, in line with IOM’s evaluation of migrant deaths from 2014-2023.
Final 12 months was the deadliest on record, with 8,541 migrant victims. Practically 60 per cent of those deaths have been linked to drowning.
English Channel tragedy
Reviews of six youngsters and a pregnant mom among the many 12 who drowned within the English Channel on Tuesday is yet one more “unacceptable tragedy”, the UNICEF workplace that covers Europe stated on Wednesday.
“We can not stand by and watch one other of Europe’s shores change into a burial floor for kids,” they emphasised, including that one in 5 individuals arriving irregularly within the UK are youngsters.
“Extra protected and common pathways, in addition to options to the basis points driving individuals to go away their residence, are urgently wanted,” IOM chief Amy Pope acknowledged on X in response to the pointless deaths.
