At Least 11 Dead, 64 Missing After 2 Shipwrecks Off Italy

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Stock Image. A man watches as a speed boat of Italian law enforcement agency Guardia di Finanza (GdF) is navigated. (Photo by ADNAN BECI/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN’s Brooke Mallory
1:23 PM – Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Following a shipwreck off the southern coast of Italy on Monday, a statement from United Nations agencies stated that 64 individuals were also reported missing in the Mediterranean Sea.

The German assistance agency RESQSHIP posted on the social media website X (Twitter) on Monday, stating that while rescue crews in another shipwreck managed to save scores of suspected illegal immigrants, they discovered 10 bodies submerged beneath the deck of a wooden boat near the small Italian island of Lampedusa.

According to survivors cited by U.N. agencies, the boat that capsized some 200 kilometers (125 miles) off the coast of Calabria had set out from Turkey eight days prior. However, it later caught fire and capsized.

The Italian coast guard released a statement announcing that the search and rescue effort had begun in response to a mayday call made by a French boat. The vessel was traveling across a border region where search and rescue missions are conducted by Greece and Italy.

According to U.N. officials, survivors and those who are still missing at sea are from the countries Iran, Syria, and Iraq.

Two neighboring merchant vessels were quickly diverted to the rescue area by the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center. Resources from Frontex, a European border and coast guard organization, were also beneficial in the rescue efforts.

The survivors were transported to the port of Roccella Jonica in Calabria, where they disembarked and received care from medical staff. As per the Coast Guard, one of the eleven rescued migrants passed away shortly after.

“In the second shipwreck, the crew aboard RESQSHIP’s boat, the Nadir, found 61 people on the wooden boat, which was full of water,” AP News reported.

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