GENEVA/BERLIN: The Central Mediterranean witnessed 441 migrant deaths in the first quarter of 2023. This is the deadliest first quarter on record since 2017, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s Missing Migrants Project.
“With more than 20,000 deaths recorded on this route since 2014, I fear that these deaths have been normalized. States must respond. Delays and gaps in State-led search and rescue (SaR) are costing human lives," said IOM Director General, António Vitorino.
“The persisting humanitarian crisis in the central Mediterranean is intolerable,” said Vitorino.
According to IOM, the 441 deaths documented in the first three months of the year are likely an undercount of the true number of lives lost in the Central Mediterranean. The Missing Migrants Project is also investigating several reports of invisible shipwrecks- cases in which boats are reported missing, where there are no records of survivors- remains or SAR operations.
The fates of more than 300 people aboard those vessels remain unclear.
The increasing loss of life on the world’s most dangerous maritime crossing comes amidst reports of delays in State-led rescue responses and hindrance to the operations of NGO (SaR) vessels in the central Mediterranean.
Delays in State-led rescues on the Central Mediterranean route were a factor in at least six incidents this year leading to the deaths of at least 127 people. The complete absence of response to a seventh case claimed the lives of at least 73 migrants.
Recently, NGO-led SAR efforts have been markedly diminished.
On 25 March, the Libyan Coast Guard fired shots in the air as NGO rescue ship Ocean Viking was responding to a report of a rubber boat in distress. Separately, on Sunday, 26 March, another vessel, the Louise Michel, was detained in Italy after rescuing 180 people at sea, echoing an earlier case in which the Geo Barents was detained in February and subsequently released.
Over the Easter weekend, 3,000 migrants reached Italy, bringing the total number of arrivals so far this year to 31,192 people.
A vessel carrying roughly 800 people on board was rescued on Tuesday, April 11, more than 200 kilometers southeast of Sicily by the Italian Coast Guard with the assistance of a commercial vessel. Another ship with around 400 migrants was reportedly adrift between Italy and Malta for two days before being reached by the Italian Coast. Not all migrants from these ships have reached safety and disembarked in Italy yet.
"Saving lives at sea is a legal obligation for States," said Vitorino. "We need to see proactive State-led coordination in search and rescue efforts. Guided by the spirit of responsibility-sharing and solidarity, we call on States to work together and work to reduce loss of life along migration routes."