January to March 2023 was the deadliest first quarter for migrants crossing the central Mediterranean since 2017, the United Nations said Wednesday.
It says 441 migrants lost their lives adding that this known death toll in the first three months of the year was likely an undercount of the true number.
The UN's International Organization for Migration, IMO, said on Wednesday that delays in state-led search and rescue (SAR) operations were a factor in several fatal incidents in the dangerous journeys by migrants mainly from north Africa.
It said such delays were partly responsible for at least six incidents so far this year, leading to the deaths of at least 127 people.
"The persisting humanitarian crisis in the central Mediterranean is intolerable," said agency's chief Antonio Vitorino.
"States must respond. Delays and gaps in state-led SAR are costing human lives."
"The complete absence of response to a seventh case claimed the lives of at least 73 migrants," it said in a statement, adding that non-governmental organisations' search and rescue efforts have markedly diminished in recent months.
"With more than 20,000 deaths recorded on this route since 2014, I fear that these deaths have been normalised.''
"Over the Easter weekend, 3,000 migrants reached Italy, bringing the total number of arrivals so far this year to 31,192 people," the IOM said.
The UN agency's Missing Migrants Project is also investigating several reports of cases in which boats were reported missing, where there are no records of survivors, no remains and no SAR operations.
The fates of more than 300 people aboard those vessels remain unclear, the organisation added.
Saving migrants is an obligation
"We need to see proactive, state-led coordination in search-and-rescue efforts. Guided by the spirit of responsibility sharing and solidarity, we call on states to work together and work to reduce loss of life along migration routes."
The IOM said the situation in the central Mediterranean reinforced the need for predictable state-led SAR, putting an end to the "ad hoc response" since the end of the Italian navy's Operation Mare Nostrum in 2014.
Countries needed to support the life-saving efforts of NGOs and end the "criminal isation, obstruction and deterrence" of those who do come to the rescue, it said.
"Saving lives at sea is a legal obligation for states," said Vitorino.
"All maritime vessels, including commercial ships, have a legal obligation to provide rescue to boats in distress," he said.
The agency also called for tougher action to dismantle criminal smuggling networks and to prosecute those responsible for "profiting from the desperation of migrants and refugees by facilitating dangerous journeys".
Even as the IOM released its findings, the Tunisian coastguard said Wednesday that 10 migrants had drowned off the coast after their boat was wrecked in th e Mediterranean.
"Seventy-two migrants were rescued and 10 bodies recovered after Tuesday's shipwreck" off Tunisia's second city of Sfax, spokesman Houssem Jebabli said, adding that the dead were all from sub-Saharan Africa.
State of emergency in Italy
Most of the migrants crossing the Mediterranean this years are heading to Italy mainly from Tunisia. The Italian authorities have been struggling to deal with the massive number of migrants arriving.
They have now declared a six-month state of emergency to help it deal with the crisis. The Italian government approved the measure following a proposal by Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci, said the state-run ANSA news agency.
“Let me be clear. The problem will not be solved with this. The solution is possible only through a conscious and responsible intervention by the European Union,” said Musumeci.
"We are talking about a phenomenon never seen in the past. The islands alone cannot deal with this state of emergency,” he added.
With the state of emergency, faster procedures and actions can be implemented to offer migrants reception solutions in a short time with adequate standards, according to the agency.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the decision aims to enable more effective and timely responses to the management of the migrant flow.
