Baby found dead in migrant boat heading for Italy

Another 120 migrants were transferred by coastguard boat to the Italian island of Lampedusa

Migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, are stopped by Tunisian Maritime National Guard at sea during an attempt to get to Italy, near the coast of Sfax, Tunisia, Tuesday, April 18, 2023 (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The body of a five-month-old baby has been found dead in a migrant boat heading to Italy.

The news was announced on Tuesday when some 85 migrants heading for Italy from Tunisia were rescued from distress at sea.

The infant girl, her mother and 4-year-old sister were in an unseaworthy boat laden with migrants that had set off from Sfax in Tunisia two days earlier bound for Italy, according to charity group SOS Humanity.

SOS Humanity workers aboard its “Humanity 1” vessel found many of the migrants exhausted and suffering from seasickness and fuel burns as they were rescued before dawn on Tuesday, the group said in a statement.

Some 185 migrants rescued in separate operations this week, including the stricken boat overnight, were being taken aboard “Humanity 1” to the port of Livorno in northwest Italy. Another 120 migrants were transferred by coastguard boat to the Italian island of Lampedusa in the southern Mediterranean.

Tunisia is grappling with a migrant crisis and has replaced Libya as the main departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict further south in Africa as well as the Middle East in hopes of a better life in Europe.

Italy has sought to curb migrant arrivals from Africa, making it harder charity ships to operate in the Mediterranean, limiting the number of rescues they can carry out and often forcing them to make huge detours to bring migrants ashore.

Last week nearly 140 migrants reached Greek shores in 24 hours, making the dangerous sea voyage across the Mediterranean Sea, authorities said. One man, who had set off from North Africa, drowned off the southern island of Crete.

Migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, are stopped by Tunisian Maritime National Guard at sea during an attempt to get to Italy, near the coast of Sfax, Tunisia, Tuesday, April 18, 2023 (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Greece, along with Spain and Italy, is a key entry point for people from the Middle East or Africa who are seeking a better life in the European Union. To get to Greek shores, most make the risky crossing in flimsy boats from neighboring Turkey or Libya.

Greece’s coast guard said 34 men and three boys were rescued last Thursday by a passing merchant vessel some 83 nautical miles (95 miles) south of Crete after issuing a distress signal.

A coast guard statement said one more man who had been on the boat fell into the sea and drowned, according to other survivors and the ship’s captain. All survivors were taken to Crete. They told authorities they had set off from eastern Libya on Tuesday.

Also on Thursday, authorities found 51 men, eight women and 19 children on a beach near Monemvassia in southeastern mainland Greece. It was unclear where they had departed from, but the area is on a smuggling route from Turkey to Greece or Italy.

In separate incidents on Thursday and Friday, authorities picked up 22 people from an islet off the southeastern island of Symi. The coast guard said they had paid smugglers to ferry them over from nearby Turkey.Spain has received the highest number of migrants and refugees in the EU so far this year with more than 21,000 arrivals, according to United Nations data.