The U.N. migration agency has reported that hundreds of people are feared dead or missing following multiple shipwrecks in the Mediterranean during the past ten days, after a period of severe weather, the agency said on Monday. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) cautioned that the eventual toll could be substantially greater, calling the Central Mediterranean "the deadliest migration corridor in the world."
Among confirmed casualties, three people - two of them twin girls aged about one year - were reported dead after a search-and-rescue operation in Lampedusa, Italy. The IOM said these deaths were attributed to hypothermia, according to survivors; the childrens Guinean mother, who survived, provided that account. A man from the same incident also died of hypothermia, the agency added.
Survivors from that vessel stated that a second boat departed at the same time but did not reach its destination, and its fate remains unknown, the IOM said. Over the preceding ten days, amid a violent Mediterranean storm linked to Cyclone Harry, several boats are believed to have gone missing, leaving hundreds unaccounted for as search operations were impeded by poor weather.
The IOM is working to verify a survivors report from another boat that had been rescued by a commercial vessel near Malta. That survivor reported a shipwreck in which at least 50 people could be missing or dead, and the agency said it was seeking to confirm that account.
Separately, the agency said 51 people are feared dead following a wreck off Tobruk, Libya. The IOM condemned the practice of smuggling migrants on unseaworthy, overcrowded vessels, calling it a criminal act.
"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."
In its account, the IOM said that in 2025 at least 1,340 people died in the Central Mediterranean, according to the agencys figures. The organization emphasized the difficulty of obtaining a full and accurate count while rescues and verifications continue amid adverse conditions.
Search-and-rescue efforts have been repeatedly hampered by the storm, limiting the ability of authorities and commercial vessels to locate missing boats and confirm casualty numbers. The agency continues to gather information from survivors and rescuers as it seeks to clarify the scale of the recent incidents.
Key developments remain under verification, and the IOM has stressed the criminal nature of arranging voyages on unsafe craft during severe weather. The agency's statements underscore the humanitarian toll and the operational challenges facing responders in the Central Mediterranean during violent storms.