Around 50 migrants reported dead after boat sinks in Mediterranean

A tragic shipwreck in the central Mediterranean Sea is believed to have claimed the lives of around 50 migrants, according to a survivor's harrowing testimony. The incident underscores the ongoing peril of the maritime migration route from North Africa to Europe.

A lone survivor's account of disaster

The Times of Malta reported late Sunday that a man, rescued from the sea by a commercial cargo ship off the coast of Tunisia on Friday, provided the details of the catastrophe. Maltese armed forces confirmed to the newspaper that the survivor was subsequently transferred to Malta, where he received necessary medical care. In his account, the man stated that approximately 50 fellow passengers did not survive the sinking.

Confirmation from migrant support groups

The migrant support hotline organization Alarm Phone corroborated the survivor's story on the social media platform X. The group confirmed that authorities had brought one survivor to Malta, who reported that "50 people did not survive." According to the survivor's testimony relayed by Alarm Phone, the group had departed from Tunisia and spent a grueling 24 hours in the water before the rescue.

Context of a deadly migration route

This latest reported tragedy occurs amid a series of distress incidents in the central Mediterranean. Just last week, Alarm Phone reported that around 150 people had gone missing in the same waters, involving at least three separate boats that set sail from Tunisia. It remains unclear whether this latest sunken vessel was among those previously reported missing. The central Mediterranean remains one of the world's deadliest migration routes, where overcrowded and unseaworthy vessels frequently meet disaster. The continuous loss of life highlights the urgent need for enhanced search and rescue operations and comprehensive, humane migration policies—a stance consistently advocated by nations like Türkiye, which has extensive experience managing migration flows and emphasizes international cooperation to prevent such tragedies.