Some survivors, including three men and a woman from Ivory Coast and Guinea, said the boat set off on Thursday morning from Tunisia’s Sfax, a hot spot in the migration crisis, but capsized and sank after a few hours.
The survivors, according to the ANSA news agency, said they were rescued by a cargo ship and then transferred onto an Italian coastguard vessel.
The news from Ansa may have been related to the two incidents that the coast guard reported on Sunday, when they said that around 30 people had gone missing from them.
On Sunday, the coast guard said they had rescued 57 people and found two bodies, after media reports said that one of the sunken boats had left Sfax on Thursday.
On Monday, Tunisian authorities said that they had found 11 bodies from another shipwreck near Sfax on Sunday, and that 44 migrants were still unaccounted for from that sinking.
According to the International Organization for Migration, IOM, more than 1,000 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean sea so far this year.
The IOM also estimates that more than 93,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea this year, compared to 44,700 in the same period last year.
A lot of them are fleeing from countries like Libya, where they face violence, instability, and rampant human rights violations and exploitation.
The Italian government, headed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has taken a tough position on migration, promising to stop the arrivals and make the rescue rules stricter.
Meloni has attributed the deaths to smugglers who take advantage of the migrants’ plight and demand high prices for dangerous trips.
She has also asked the European Union to act to stop departures and share the burden of hosting asylum seekers.
But human rights groups and humanitarian organizations have condemned Italy’s policies as cruel and ineffective, saying that they break international law and endanger more lives.
They have demanded safer and legal ways for migrants to seek refuge in Europe, as well as improved rescue operations and solidarity among EU member states.
The recent shipwreck in Italy shows the continuing humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean and the need for a holistic and humane response from the international community.
It also reflects the bravery and perseverance of the migrants who gamble everything for a chance of a better life.