20 migrants missing after boat floods

Twenty migrants are missing and seven were rescued after their boat hit rough seas off Libya while attempting to reach Italy, the mayor of the Italian island of Lampedusa said Wednesday.

The small vessel carrying 27 people departed Zuwara, Libya, at 10 pm on Monday, before Italian police rescued seven people near Lampedusa, in the Mediterranean Sea, on Tuesday.

Survivors told Italian media that about five hours after leaving Libya, their boat began flooding and tilted, sparking panic that led to 20 people falling into the water. The survivors had clung to the unstable boat until rescued by an Italian police patrol.

Italian police and coastguard conducted overnight searches southwest of Lampedusa where it was thought to have capsized, but the victims' bodies remain unrecovered.

The survivors, two each from Syria, Egypt and Sudan, plus a Syrian eight-year-old boy, described rough seas and strong winds. All seven survivors have been transferred to Porto Empedocle in Sicily.

The Ansa news agency reported that Italian officials later suspended the search and alerted authorities in Libya and Malta.

In a separate tragedy on Monday, two people died, including a five-year-old child, and 17 others survived when their vessel broke down off Tunisia's northern coast during an attempt to reach Europe, reported The Guardian newspaper.

Three boats have sunk off the Tunisian coast since Tuesday, according to Alarm Phone, a sea emergency hotline service.

"So many people have needlessly died and disappeared," the organization said on social media platform X. "What a horrible way to start the new year. Our condolences to the relatives and friends of the dead."

The latest tragedy prompted UNICEF, the UN children's fund, to issue an urgent appeal on Thursday for governments to better protect young migrants.

The agency highlighted the particular vulnerability of children in these crossings, noting that among the seven Lampedusa survivors was the eight-year-old whose mother remains missing.

UNICEF drew parallels to another recent tragedy, where an 11-year-old girl was found floating alone off Lampedusa in December. The girl was the sole survivor of a vessel carrying about 45 people that had departed from Sfax, Tunisia.

The International Organization for Migration's missing migrant database recorded 2,275 people missing in the Mediterranean in 2024, with the total since 2014 reaching 31,180. Most deaths have occurred along the central Mediterranean route, where smugglers typically transport desperate migrants from Libya and Tunisia toward Italy.

UNICEF urged governments to uphold their international refugee commitments and make child protection a priority.