64 Missing, about 11 dead, and Several Rescued in Mediterranean Shipwrecks off Italy

Sixty-four people are missing and several have been rescued after a shipwreck off Italy's southern coast on Monday, according to United Nations agencies.

In a separate incident, rescue workers evacuated dozens of migrants but discovered 10 bodies trapped below deck on a wooden boat near Italy’s Lampedusa island, the German aid group Resqship reported on social media platform X.

The first boat, which wrecked about 200 kilometers (125 miles) off Calabria, had set sail from Turkey eight days earlier before catching fire and overturning. The survivors, who hailed from Iran, Syria, and Iraq, were located following a mayday call from a French boat, according to the Italian coast guard.

The Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center redirected two nearby merchant vessels to the scene, with additional support from the European border and coast guard agency Frontex. The survivors were brought to the Calabrian port of Roccella Jonica and received medical care, though one of the 11 rescued migrants later died.

In the second incident, the crew of Resqship’s boat, the Nadir, found 61 people on a waterlogged wooden vessel. "Our crew was able to evacuate 51 people, two of whom were unconscious," the organization reported. "The 10 dead were in the flooded lower deck of the boat."

These tragic incidents highlight the ongoing peril faced by migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea.