Overview
- The UN’s International Organization for Migration, which reported Tuesday, said at least 990 people have died crossing the Mediterranean in 2026, including about 765 on the Central Mediterranean route after a ten‑day span with more than 180 feared dead or missing.
- A capsizing that followed Sunday’s rough seas after a departure from Tajoura, Libya left more than 80 people missing from a boat carrying about 120, with 32 rescued and two bodies recovered before survivors were taken to Lampedusa by the Italian coast guard.
- An earlier case near Lampedusa on April 1 left at least 19 dead, and rescuers saved 58 people from a boat that survivors said left Zuara, Libya and drifted for three days after engine failure as weather worsened.
- Other recent disasters include at least 22 dead off Crete on March 28 after a departure from eastern Libya and 19 dead with around 20 missing near Sfax, Tunisia, on March 30.
- IOM urged stronger, coordinated search‑and‑rescue operations and expanded legal migration pathways, warning that current capacity is not enough and that traffickers are exploiting people who have no safe options.