More than 70 migrants feared dead after crammed small boat capsizes off the coast of Libya

More than 70 migrants are feared dead after a packed small boat capsized in the Mediterranean.

The ship left the Libyan port of Tajoura just a few hours before it started taking on water and capsized due to turbulent weather conditions.

After receiving the warning, a plane sent by the German rescue group Sea-Watch found “an overturned wooden boat with about 15 people desperately clinging to the hull, several people in the water and some bodies,” the group said in a statement.

Video footage shows about a dozen men perched atop an overturned boat off the coast of Libya, while others desperately try to pull themselves out of the water.

The International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Refugee Agency said 32 survivors were found during rescue efforts involving an Italian merchant ship and a ship sent from Liberia. Reports suggested that two bodies were also transported to rescue ships.

The survivors, one of whom was reportedly a minor, were transported by the Italian Coast Guard to the island of Lampedusa, which has become the gateway to Europe for thousands of refugees racing to cross the Mediterranean.

The survivors were all men from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt.

Filippo Ungaro, spokesman for the United Nations Refugee Agency, said that the migrants were on a boat that was ‘not suitable for crossing the Mediterranean’.

Video footage shared by Sea-Watch shows about a dozen men perched on top of a boat off the Libyan coast, while others desperately tried to pull themselves aboard.

It was stated that the survivors told the authorities that there were more than 100 people on the ship. However, the International Organization for Migration fears that this number may rise to 120.

If these figures are confirmed, they would represent one of the most serious migrant crossing tragedies in history.

Migrant rescue organization Mediterranea Saving Humans said in a statement: ‘Tragic shipwreck on Easter: 32 survivors, two dead bodies rescued, more than 70 people missing.

‘This latest shipwreck is not a tragic accident but the result of policies pursued by European governments who refuse to open legal and safe routes of entry.’

He wrote of the Sea-Watch X: ‘We are appalled. It is estimated that 71 people drowned in the Mediterranean over the Easter weekend.

‘Yesterday, our Seabird 2 aircraft spotted an overturned wooden boat: – 15 people clinging desperately to the hull, others in the water, some lifeless.’

In 2026 alone, at least 725 migrants disappeared in the ocean between North Africa and Europe.

Just last week, the Italian coast guard found 19 bodies after a boat sank into rough waters about 80 miles from Lampedusa.

And in early February, a shipwreck in conditions described as the ‘worst in 20 years’ left more than 50 migrants, including two babies, missing in the Mediterranean.

Approximately 33,450 migrants have died or gone missing in Mediterranean waters since 2014, when the statistics were first produced.

They generally leave the North African coast from countries such as Libya and Tunisia and seek refuge in southern European countries such as Italy, Malta, Turkey, Greece, Morocco and Spain.