Two migrants dead, 30 missing after shipwrecks off Italian coast

At slightest 2 radical person died and much than 30 are missing aft 2 ships carrying migrants sank disconnected the Italian land of Lampedusa, the UN's migration bureau said connected Sunday.

The 2 boats had acceptable disconnected from the larboard of Sfax successful Tunisia carrying 48 and 42 radical respectively.

Italian coastguards recovered the bodies of a pistillate from the Ivory Coast and her one-year-old baby.

Italian authorities said they were investigating the shipwrecks.

Coastguards rescued 57 migrants erstwhile the vessels sank connected Saturday, astir 23 nautical miles (46 km) south-west of Lampedusa.

Police main Emanuele Ricifari, who is successful complaint of the investigation, told section media the traffickers would person known that unsmooth seas were forecast.

"Whoever allowed them, oregon forced them, to permission with this oversea is an unscrupulous transgression lunatic," Mr Ricifari said.

In caller days, Italian patrol boats and foundation groups person rescued different 2,000 radical who person arrived connected the island.

But they person said stormy upwind and mediocre prime of the boats proceed to complicate the situation.

Mr Ricifari, urging the traffickers to stop, said: "Rough seas are forecast for the adjacent fewer days. Let's anticipation they stop. It's sending them to slaughter with this sea."

NGOs accidental Italy's far-right authorities has made their task much hard by passing laws that person the effect of forcing rescue ships to usage faraway ports.

Charities person warned that this increases their navigation costs and reduces the magnitude of clip ships tin patrol the areas of the Mediterranean wherever specified disasters are common.

The Italian Interior ministry said migration figures by oversea had doubled this twelvemonth to 92,000, compared with 42,600 recorded successful the aforesaid play successful 2022.