According to reports from a German charity, the Italian coast guard, and various United Nations agencies, at least 11 individuals have perished, and 64 others are missing following two shipwrecks off the coast of southern Italy.

The German aid organization RESQSHIP, which operates the Nadir rescue ship, reported rescuing 51 people from a sinking wooden vessel. Among them were two unconscious individuals, and 10 bodies were found trapped on the lower deck.

“Our hearts go out to their families. We are filled with grief and frustration,” the group shared on X on Monday.

RESQSHIP stated that the survivors were handed over to the Italian coast guard and brought onto shore on Monday morning. Meanwhile, the Nadir was headed toward the island of Lampedusa, towing the wooden boat containing the victims' bodies.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), along with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNICEF, indicated in a joint statement that the rescued refugees and migrants originated from Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

The second shipwreck occurred approximately 200km east of the Italian region of Calabria. A boat, which had left Turkey eight days prior, caught fire and overturned, according to the UN agencies.

They reported that 64 individuals were unaccounted for at sea, while 11 were rescued and taken ashore to Roccella Ionica in Calabria by the Italian coast guard, along with a deceased woman’s body.

The coast guard had earlier announced they were searching for an unspecified number of missing persons, with assistance from the European Union border agency, Frontex.

The vessel, a partially submerged sailing boat, was initially spotted by a French vessel in international waters, where the Italian and Greek search-and-rescue zones intersect, the coast guard mentioned.

UN agencies stated that the refugees and migrants in the second incident were from Iran, Syria, and Iraq.

According to a March report by IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, over 27,000 people have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea in the past decade while attempting to reach southern Europe from northern Africa.

Although most fatalities in the central Mediterranean have been recorded off the Libyan coast, IOM has noted a rising number of departures and subsequent shipwrecks off the Tunisian coast. In 2023 alone, there were at least 729 deaths off Tunisia, compared to 462 in the previous year.

When IOM’s project commenced in 2014, European sentiment was generally more sympathetic towards refugees. The Italian government had even launched “Mare Nostrum,” a comprehensive search-and-rescue mission that saved numerous lives.

However, with the growing influence of anti-immigration political parties across Europe, governments have been striving to control migration by financially assisting Mediterranean countries like Tunisia and Egypt in return for limiting migrant flows.

The UN and various NGOs have once again urged EU nations to amplify Mediterranean search-and-rescue operations and open more legal and safe migration channels, so that migrants need not risk their lives at sea.