At least 10 dead and dozens missing in two Mediterranean shipwrecks

At least 10 people have died and dozens are missing after two separate shipwrecks close to the Italian coast, rescuers said.

Ten bodies were found on Monday in the lower deck of a wooden boat in the central Mediterranean by rescuers from Nadir, a ship operated by the German charity ResQship. The charity said it saved 51 people who were onboard the sinking vessel, which is believed to have departed from Tunisia.

Alarm Phone, a hotline service for people in distress while crossing the Mediterranean, said on X: “We were alerted to a boat in distress, carrying about 60 people. Not EU authorities but the small Nadir offered assistance. Unfortunately, they came too late for the 10 people who died in the lower deck. EU borders continue to kill!”

The shipwreck happened about 40 miles south of the Italian island of Lampedusa, Italy’s Rai News reported.

Separately, 50 people were reported missing on Monday afternoon in a shipwreck in the Ionian Sea, about 100 miles off the coast of Calabria in southern Italy. Twelve people including a pregnant woman were rescued by a merchant ship and taken to Roccella Ionica port. They had been travelling on a sailing boat that had left Turkey in recent days, according to reports in the Italian press. There were people of Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian nationality onboard.

Related: ‘I was willing to risk it all, or die’: a week onboard a rescue vessel in the Mediterranean Sea

Overnight on Sunday, 173 people arrived on three boats to Lampedusa, including three minors. The vessels had left Zawia in Libya and were carrying people from Bangladesh, Sudan, Syria and Egypt.

Earlier this month, 11 bodies were recovered from the sea off the coast of Libya.

Italy is one of the main landing points for people trying to reach Europe, with the central Mediterranean route considered one of the world’s most dangerous. The UN has registered more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances along the route since 2014.