More than three months after the shipwreck off the coast of Calabria in southern Italy, Italian authorities have said they're ending the search for bodies. The tragedy, one of the deadliest involving migrants in recent years, claimed at least 94 lives.
Some 88 migrants rescued off the Libya coast four days prior arrived in the Italian port city of Livorno on May 30 on board the Humanity 1 ship. Among them are 11 minors, 10 of whom are unaccompanied.
MSF's Geo Barents ship entered the Italian port of Bari on Tuesday morning with 605 migrants on board, including 151 minors -- 111 of whom unaccompanied -- and 11 women.
The Geo Barents vessel, operated by the NGO Doctors without Borders (MSF), rescued some 600 migrants from an overcrowded boat in distress off the island of Sicily on Saturday. Meanwhile other humanitarian groups also rescued more than 150 people.
The number of migrants who crossed the Mediterranean to Europe during the first four months of 2023 is up 82% compared to the same period in 2022. At the same time, deaths on the Mediterranean are higher than they have been in years. InfoMigrants traveled to Sicily where many migrants land after crossing from Libya or Tunisia.
Volunteer Anabel Montes Mier has said she is quitting migrant rescue missions at sea because she feels overwhelmed by the death and pain she has witnessed and by widespread hatred against NGOs in an interview published by Italian daily la Repubblica on May 15.
Yonas is an Eritrean refugee in the UK. A year ago, he began to gather evidence to apply for family reunification for his two younger brothers, who had fled from Eritrea to Sudan. He submitted the documents to the UK government in April 2023. Then conflict broke out in Sudan, and Yonas has not heard from his brothers for over two weeks.
For migrants in Italy getting special protection status can be life-changing. But lawmakers have now approved a law severely restricting access.
This weekend more than 1,000 migrants arrived in Italy after crossing the Mediterranean. Since the beginning of the year, arrivals have increased month on month and are far greater than in the two previous years. InfoMigrants takes a look at why.
The Tunisian authorities said they recovered the bodies of 14 migrants in the space of 24 hours off the coast of the country. Flavio Di Giacomo of the UN migration agency has warned that more migrants are attempting the journey in precarious metal boats, making the crossing even more dangerous.
Italy's foreign minister cancelled talks with his French counterpart over what he said were "insulting" comments about his government's migration policy.
The private rescue organization Sea-Watch and Alarm Phone have joined in the accusations that Maltese authorities are “gambling with people’s lives” by “disregard[ing] its duty to rescue at sea” and ordering nearby merchant ships not to perform a rescue. They call this a "policy of non-assistance."