Rescue?officials, and migrant rescue charities said that the Italian coast guard recovered 19 bodies and rescued 58 survivors after a boat broke down while trying to reach Europe from Libya.

A spokesperson for MSF and the International Organization for Migration said that some of the victims, 18 men and 1 woman, appeared to have died from hypothermia.

Five children were among the survivors taken to Lampedusa. Rescue officials said that?three more people aboard the boat were missing. They declined to name them.

Sea-Watch, the German migrant group, said that the 19 deaths are part of the'recent surge in deaths at sea. They estimate that at least 100 people have died in the Mediterranean in the last three days. This includes 18 people who drowned when their inflatable boat capsized off the western Turkey on Wednesday.

Sea-Watch released a statement saying that the situation was "terrifying: people drifting at sea without help for days."

IOM spokesperson estimated that the latest tragedy in Lampedusa has brought the total number of deaths known to have occurred in the central Mediterranean region this year to 643 -?one the highest tolls ever since 2014.

Officials confirmed that the boat left Abu Kammash, in western Libya, on March 30. This means it had been at sea for two days. The migrants on board were from Sudan, Sierra Leone and Gambia. They also came from Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Gambia and Nigeria.

The 'Mediterranean has been ravaged by bad weather this year, limiting departures from North Africa and posing serious problems for those who managed to set sail.

According to the latest data from the Italian interior ministry, 6,117 migrants have arrived in Italy by boat so far in this year. This compares with 9,215 during the same period in 2025 and 11,416 during the first three month of 2024. (Reporting and editing by Francesca Piscioneri, Alvise Armellini)

(source: Reuters)