One-year-old twin girls missing after migrant crossing to Italy: NGO

Name: One-year-old twin girls missing after migrant crossing to Italy: NGO
Uploaded: 2026-01-23T17:51:32Z
Description: Dozens of people rescued in Lampedusa after vessel crossed from Tunisia in dangerous conditions, Save the Children says.

Dozens of people rescued in Lampedusa after vessel crossed from Tunisia in dangerous conditions, Save the Children says.

LAMPEDUSA, ITALY - JUNE 10: Refugees and migrants wait in a small rubber boat to be rescued by crewmembers from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) Phoenix vessel on June 10, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy. An estimated 230,000 refugees and migrants will arrive in Italy this year as numbers of refugees and migrants attempting the dangerous central mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy continues to rise since the same time last year. So far this year more than 58,000 people have arrived in Italy and 1,569 people have died attempting the crossing. Libya continues to be the primary departure point for refugees and migrants taking the central mediterranean route to Sicily. In an attempt to slow the flow of migrants, Italy recently signed a deal with Libya, Chad and Niger outlining a plan to increase border controls and add new reception centers in the African nations, which are key transit points for migrants heading to Italy. MOAS is a Malta based NGO dedicated to providing professional search-and-rescue assistance to refugees and migrants in distress at sea. Since the start of the year MOAS have rescued and assisted more than 4000 people and are currently patrolling and running rescue operations in international waters off the coast of Libya. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) — The Central Mediterranean is the deadliest known migration route in the world, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration [File: Chris McGrath/Getty Images]

By XEn News Staff and AFP

One-year-old twin girls are missing at sea after a boat carrying dozens of migrants and refugees reached the Italian island of Lampedusa this week, nonprofit group Save the Children has said.

The organisation said on Friday that 61 people, including the missing twins’ mother and 22 unaccompanied minors, were rescued from the vessel a day earlier after crossing to Lampedusa in “extremely difficult conditions” made worse by Cyclone Harry.

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“They described having departed from Tunisia, braving stormy seas for at least three days, and arriving in a state of great physical and psychological distress,” Save the Children said in a statement.

A man died after disembarking the boat, the group added.

The Central Mediterranean is the deadliest known migration route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Forty-nine people, including 12 children under age five, died last October when their boat capsized after leaving the Tunisian coastal village of Salakta.

“Nearly 1,000 deaths and disappearances have been recorded in the Central Mediterranean this year [2025], with the death toll since 2014 reaching more than 25,000,” the IOM said at the time.

“At least 30 children have lost their lives off the coast of Tunisia already this year [2025], compared to 22 in all of 2024.”

Tunisia has seen an increase in departures in recent years, according to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, which tracks crossings.

And in 2020, Tunisian nationals made up more than 60 percent of the Central Mediterranean crossings, the IOM said, as the country faced high unemployment rates as well as deepening socioeconomic and political hardships.

On Friday, Save the Children said people continued to risk their lives “on dangerous and often deadly journeys” due to an absence of safe migration routes.

Giorgia D’Errico, the group’s director of institutional relations, said the European Union has responsibility for every decision that puts those fleeing poverty, violence and persecution at risk.

“We cannot silently watch the loss of human lives, including so many children, that has continued for years, making the sea, once again, a deadly border: this unacceptable massacre must end,” she said.