Storms sink multiple illegal migrant vessels in Mediterranean, hundreds feared dead or missing

Over the past 10 days - amid a violent Mediterranean storm triggered by Cyclone Harry - several boats are believed to have gone missing, leaving hundreds unaccounted for, according to the IOM. Search efforts have been hampered by poor weather.

The agency is verifying a survivor's report from another boat, rescued by a commercial vessel near Malta, of a shipwreck where at least 50 people could be missing or dead. Separately, 51 people are feared dead after a wreck off Tobruk, Libya, the IOM said.

"Smuggling migrants on unseaworthy and overcrowded boats is a criminal act," the IOM said.

"Arranging departures while a severe storm was hitting the region makes this conduct even more reprehensible, as people were knowingly sent to sea under conditions amounting to a near-certain risk of death," it added.

In 2025, at least 1,340 people died in the Central Mediterranean, according to the agency's figures.

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Aurora Ellis)