UN Fears Hundreds of Migrants Dead or Missing After Spate of Mediterranean Shipwrecks

ROME, Jan 27 (Reuters) – The United Nations migration agency issued a grave warning on Monday, expressing deep fear that hundreds of migrants are missing or dead following a series of catastrophic shipwrecks in the perilous central Mediterranean Sea this month, exacerbated by a severe cyclone.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated it is “deeply concerned” and is actively working to verify preliminary reports indicating a significant loss of life. According to the agency, several boats are believed to have foundered over a ten-day period amid dangerous weather conditions.

“While IOM is still seeking official confirmation, the scale of the reported fatalities points to yet another major tragedy in the Central Mediterranean,” the agency said in a statement. “The final toll may be significantly higher.”

Details of the Tragedies

IOM spokesman Jorge Galindo cited three specific shipwrecks reported on January 23 and 25, which alone are believed to have claimed at least 100 lives. Data analyst Merna Abdelazim of the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project noted the vessels involved were suspected to have departed from Tunisia and Libya.

In one confirmed incident, a boat that left Sfax, Tunisia, was intercepted in a search and rescue operation near the Italian island of Lampedusa. Tragically, three deaths have been confirmed from that vessel.

“Among the victims are twin girls, approximately one year old, who died of hypothermia shortly before disembarkation,” the IOM reported, adding that a man also succumbed to hypothermia. Survivors from the same operation provided chilling testimony that a second boat, which departed simultaneously from the same location, has vanished and is presumed lost.

The agency is also investigating alarming reports of nine separate missing boats that departed from Tunisia between January 14 and 21, carrying an estimated 380 people in total.

Cyclone Harry and Criminal Negligence

The shipwrecks occurred as Cyclone Harry brought severe storms to the Mediterranean, conditions that the IOM said “significantly hampered” rescue efforts and made sea crossings extraordinarily lethal.

The agency placed direct blame on smuggling networks, condemning their actions as criminal and reckless. “Arranging departures while a severe storm was hitting the region makes this conduct even more reprehensible, as people were knowingly sent to sea under conditions amounting to a near-certain risk of death,” the statement read.

It further accused these networks of operating “with impunity,” deliberately using unseaworthy and overcrowded vessels, and underscored that “smuggling migrants on such boats is a criminal act.”

A Call to Action and a Deadly Corridor

The IOM stressed that these latest incidents “highlight the urgent need for the international community to intensify efforts to dismantle these criminal networks and prevent further loss of life.”

The warning comes with a stark reminder of the central Mediterranean’s grim status as the world’s deadliest migration route. In 2025 alone, at least 1,340 people lost their lives there. Since 2014, the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project has documented over 33,000 deaths and disappearances in the Mediterranean, a figure that continues to rise with each new tragedy.

“In just the first weeks of 2026, hundreds of people are already feared to be missing,” the agency concluded, signaling a devastating start to the year for migration in the region.

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