KARACHI – At least twelve people including some Pakistanis have been dead while around 60 others are missing, as migrant ship sinks off Italy’s southern coast.
Scores of people including some children have been rescued from a sinking wooden boat, while 10 bodies were trapped in the vessel’s lower deck. Survivors were transferred to Italian Coast Guard and taken ashore.
UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration, and the UN children’s agency UNICEF indicated that the boat was coming from Libya, carrying migrants from Pakistan, Syria, and other Asian nations.
Another shipwreck occurred near east of Italian region of Calabria when a boat that had set off from Turkey and overturned, reports said. Several dozen people were missing at sea, while some were rescued and brought ashore.
The recent incidents highlight central Mediterranean as one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes. According to UN data, over 23,500 migrants have died or gone missing in these waters in last one decade.
UN agencies called urged EU governments to upgrade rescue efforts and to expand legal and safe migration channels to prevent migrants from risking their lives at sea.
