Several children missing following shipwreck off Lampedusa

  ROME – Several children and a pregnant woman are missing following a shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa on Friday, UNICEF said.

  According to the report from UNICEF, around 35 people were on board the small fiberglass boat, which had left Al Khums in Libya on Wednesday.

  The boat capsized after two days at sea on Friday, around 50 miles southeast of Lampedusa in the Maltese coastguards’ area of responsibility.

  The Italian coastguard has rescued at least eleven people, including four children travelling alone.

  Nicola Dell’Arciprete, UNICEF’s coordinator in Italy for Europe and Central Asia, said that “this tragedy highlights once again the deadly risks that children and families face along the central Mediterranean route. Every life lost at sea underscores the urgent need for coordinated search and rescue operations, safe disembarkation, community-based reception, and access to asylum services.”

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