Over 440 migrants dead in Central Mediterranean in first 3 months of 2023: UN

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) – At least 441 migrant deaths were documented in the first quarter of 2023, the UN migration agency said on Wednesday.

The figure is the highest on record since 2017 amid reports of delays in state-led rescue responses and hindrance to the operations of NGO search and rescue vessels, according to the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Missing Migrants Project.

"The persisting humanitarian crisis in the central Mediterranean is intolerable," IOM Director General Antonio Vitorino said.

"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 SAR (search and rescue) are costing human lives," Vitorino added.

IOM said that 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, adding that the complete absence of response to a seventh case claimed the lives of at least 73 migrants.

"Saving lives at sea is a legal obligation for states," Vitorino stressed, and said: "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."

The actual number of fatalities in the Central Mediterranean is probably higher than the 441 deaths reported in the first three months of the year, the UN migration agency said.
“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,” IOM said, adding that the whereabouts of more than 300 migrants on board those vessels are unknown.

Over the Easter weekend, the organization said, 3,000 migrants reached Italy, bringing the total number of arrivals so far this year to 31,192 people.