German sea rescuers found the bodies of ten suspected migrants off the Italian island of Lampedusa on Monday. They were discovered under the deck of a wooden boat, the rescue organization “Resqship” announced. 51 people were being cared for on board the rescue ship “Nadir,” the group wrote on X. “For 10 people, the rescue came too late.”
A total of 61 people were on board the water-filled wooden boat. Two of the rescued people were found unconscious and “had to be freed with an axe.”
Meanwhile, the Italian coast guard was searching for possible missing people after another boat carrying migrants had sunk. A French boat had sent out a distress call after finding the half-sunken sailing boat around 200 kilometers from the Italian coast, on the edge of the search and rescue areas for which Greece and Italy are responsible, the coast guard said. It was suspected that the ill-fated boat had set sail from Turkey.
Survivors were taken to the port of Roccella Jonica in Calabria and placed under the care of medical professionals. One of the rescued people died shortly afterwards, the coast guard said. It was initially unclear how many people were still missing. The Italian coordination center for sea rescue in Rome immediately sent two merchant ships sailing nearby to the scene of the accident. Forces from the European border protection agency Frontex were also deployed.
