Recovery teams have retrieved at least 20 bodies following the capsizing of two migrant boats off the coast of Lampedusa. Search operations remain ongoing. The recovered victims, already placed aboard coast guard vessels, are expected to reach port within the next few hours.
Filippo Ungaro, a spokesperson for the UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency), stated that an estimated 12 to 17 people remain missing from the Lampedusa shipwreck. This figure is in addition to the “at least 20 dead,” of whom Ungaro reported eight had been recovered at the time of his statement based on information gathered while assisting the 60 survivors housed at the local hotspot.
Ungaro also highlighted the broader toll, noting that “675 people have died or gone missing in the Central Mediterranean since the beginning of the year.”
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