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TRIPOLI – Emergency Medicine Organization rescued 50 migrants, including Somalis and Egyptians, after they were found aboard a wooden boat in international waters off the Libyan coast, while seven people died during the journey, in a new incident reflecting the grave risks faced by migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea toward Europe. The organization said its rescue vessel found the boat on Monday morning in Libya’s search and rescue area, after the boat had departed from the coastal city of Zuwara, western Libya, early Sunday morning, according to survivors’ accounts.
The organization explained that the rescued group consisted of 45 men and five women, including 29 unaccompanied children, among them 26 boys and three girls, noting that the exact number of Somalis and Egyptians among the survivors had not been determined. It added that two of the survivors were in critical condition and suffering from breathing difficulties, requiring urgent evacuation to receive medical care, while it called for a safe and nearby port for the group to disembark before the port of Bari in southern Italy was designated to receive the survivors.
The presence of unaccompanied children carries particular humanitarian significance, as 29 children undertook the sea journey without either parent or a responsible adult accompanying them, under dangerous conditions that resulted in the deaths of seven people. This experience increases the children’s need for protection and medical, psychological and social care, while also highlighting the vulnerability of groups using irregular maritime migration routes, amid continued reliance on small boats that in many cases lack basic safety requirements.
The incident comes as the Central Mediterranean route remains one of the most dangerous maritime migration routes to Europe, with small boats continuing to be used to cross long distances amid risks of overcrowding and shortages of water, food and safety equipment, in addition to sudden breakdowns and delays in rescue operations. According to the data cited regarding this route, 821 people have died or gone missing since the beginning of 2026, while the International Organization for Migration has recorded at least 25,859 deaths or missing persons along the same route since 2014, reflecting the accumulated human cost of attempts to cross the sea.
Libya has for years been a major transit point for migrants arriving from African countries and other regions and seeking to reach Europe across the Mediterranean Sea, while Zuwara, located on the western coast of Libya, is among the areas from which irregular sea journeys depart. The rescue of 50 migrants and the deaths of seven others, including a large group of unaccompanied children, once again highlight the need to strengthen search and rescue, medical response and humanitarian protection capacities, with particular attention to children and the most vulnerable groups, while working to provide safer pathways that reduce migrants’ exposure to the dangers of deadly sea journeys.
