01 April 2026 , 22:08
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The bodies of 19 people were recovered from an inflatable boat south of the island of Lampedusa by the Italian coastguard, a spokesperson told AFP.
Fifty-eight other people, including five children, were found alive during the rescue in the early hours of Wednesday and transported to Lampedusa by the coastguard, according to Roberto D’Arrigo.
Lampedusa’s mayor, Filippo Mannino, said seven people, including two children, were being treated in hospital for “hypothermia and intoxication from hydrocarbon fumes”.
The coastguard rescue took place about 85 miles off the Italian island inside Libyan search and rescue waters.
The boat was spotted by an Italian reconnaissance plane on Tuesday, but there were no Libyan coastguard or civilian ships in the area to assist, D’Arrigo said.
A decision was made to send an Italian coastguard vessel from Lampedusa.
D’Arrigo said some of the people may have died while being transported back to Lampedusa in particularly rough weather conditions, with waves up to seven meters high.
Lampedusa is a key landing point for people crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa. Many die while attempting the dangerous journey.
So far this year, 624 people have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean, according to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration.
Lampedusa’s last humanitarian disaster occurred in August when 27 people died in two shipwrecks off the coast.
According to the interior ministry, 6,117 migrants have landed on Italy’s shores so far this year.
World Affairs Correspondent