The Alarm Phone platform, which specialises in receiving reports about migrants stranded at sea, said on Monday 12 October that 23 people who had sailed from the Algerian coast aboard two boats on separate journeys were missing, adding that their fate remained unknown. In information published on its X account, the platform said the first boat had left the coast of Algeria’s Zeralda area on 4 October, carrying 17 migrants.
The second boat was heading towards the Spanish coast
The second boat was carrying six people and set off from the Algerian coast two days later, heading towards the Spanish coast. According to Alarm Phone, both boats were lost at sea, and as of Monday there was no information about the whereabouts or fate of their passengers.
The platform said that “the authorities have been informed about those missing at sea and must respond to their search-and-rescue responsibilities”, calling for action to find them. The migrants went missing at a time when increasingly changeable weather in the Mediterranean is raising the risks of attempts to cross to the northern shore. During such journeys, migrants face the risk of drowning, particularly when using overcrowded boats or vessels not equipped for long-distance travel.
51 people and 28 others rescued at sea
In a separate incident, the Sea-Watch organisation said that one of its rescue ships rescued 51 people late on Sunday who were aboard a boat that was close to sinking, including a pregnant woman. The organisation said the rescue operation was carried out after receiving a notification from the Alarm Phone platform about the boat and the situation of its passengers at sea.
Sea-Watch added that it had also helped 28 other people avoid drowning after they were found aboard an overcrowded rubber boat in international waters. The organisation said that around half of the boat’s passengers were minors.
Data from the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project indicate that 1,980 people have died or gone missing since the beginning of the year while attempting to cross the Mediterranean. The figure places the incident involving the two boats that departed from Algeria among a series of accidents linked to dangerous maritime migration routes in the region.
