Dozens of people are feared to have drowned in the second shipwreck

Dozens of people are feared to have drowned in the second shipwreck in as many days in the southern Mediterranean, amid tentative signs that some Syrians may be trying once again to make for Europe from Libya.


At least 20 people drowned in a wreck 35 nautical miles north of the Libyan smuggling hub of Zuwara when a repurposed fishing boat sank on Thursday morning, the EU’s anti-smuggling operation said. Photographs taken from an EU reconnaissance plane showed groups of men desperately waving at the aircraft from a half-submerged blue trawler.

It followed another tragedy on Wednesday, when a boat of about 600 sank in nearby waters, drowning at least five.

Thursday’s death toll may be far higher, said a spokesman for the EU’s Operation Sophia, whose ships and planes were involved in the second rescue. “We can estimate that at least 20 or 30 have died, but we don’t know the final numbers,” said Captain Antonello de Renzis Sonnino. “The operation is still ongoing.”