Five migrants, including one minor, went missing Wednesday off the Italian island of Lampedusa, Save the Children said Thursday, citing testimony from survivors.
“Forty-five people were rescued by the Italian coast guard, including 25 unaccompanied minors. Five people are reported missing, including one minor,” said Filippo Ungaro, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), on social media.
“A UNHCR team was present during the disembarkation,” he added.
According to the local outlet Agrigento Notizie, the migrants, originally from Gambia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire, told the coast guard they had departed on a 7-meter metal boat.
Seventy-five people arrived in southern Italy during the week of November 24 to 30, out of a total of 63,086 arrivals since the beginning of 2025 (down 1% year-on-year), mainly from Bangladesh, according to the UNHCR.
