Reports say about sixty-four people are missing in the Mediterranean Sea and some were rescued after a ship wrecked off the southern Italian coast on Monday.
In another shipwreck, dozens of suspected migrants were evacuated but 10 lifeless bodies were discovered trapped below the deck of a wooden boat off Lampedusa Island.
According to the United Nations(UN), the first ship that wrecked about 200 kilometres (125 miles) off Calabria reportedly set off from Turkey eight days earlier but was set ablaze and overturned.
According to an Italian coast guard, the search-and-rescue mission around the Italian coast began after a distress call from a French boat. The boat was navigating in an area where Greece and Italy conduct search-and-rescue operations. U.N. agencies reported that the survivors and those still missing at sea were from Iran, Syria, and Iraq.
Upon receiving the distress call, the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center diverted two nearby merchant vessels to assist in the rescue effort. Assets from the European border and coast guard agency Frontex also provided support.
The survivors were taken to the port of Roccella Jonica in Calabria, where they were disembarked and received medical attention from healthcare professionals. Tragically, one of the 11 rescued migrants passed away shortly after their rescue.
In a separate incident, aboard the Nadir, a vessel operated by Resqship, the crew discovered 61 individuals on a waterlogged wooden boat during another shipwreck.
“Our crew was able to evacuate 51 people, two of whom were unconscious,” it added. “The 10 dead were in the flooded lower deck of the boat.”