Hundreds of migrants are vanishing in the Mediterranean. Authorities are withholding information

FILE– Migrants from Syria and Libya in a wooden boat call for help as they are assisted by Spanish NGO Open Arms during a rescue operation inside Malta's SAR zone south of the Italian island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean sea, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) 2026-03-17T05:08:44Z ROME (AP) — Bodies washing ashore day after day. Phone calls from relatives going unanswered. Migrants’ tents abandoned overnight. Migrants trying to reach Europe are vanishing in droves in what are known as “invisible shipwrecks” but governments responsible for search and rescue are withholding information about what they know. The beginning of 2026 ranks as the deadliest start to any year for people trying to cross the Mediterranean — an unprecedented 682 confirmed missing as of March 16 — according to the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration. But the real death toll is almost certainly much higher. Human rights groups are increasingly struggling to verify tolls as Italy, Tunisia and Malta have quietly restricted information on migrant rescues and shipwrecks along the deadliest migration route in the world. The news barely makes headlines, in part because the lack of transparency prevents journalists from confirming reports. “It’s a strategy of silence,” said Matteo Villa, a researcher focusing on migration and data at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies think tank. The organization Refugees in Libya and other human rights groups have been sounding the alarm since late January, reporting more than 1,000 people missing after Cyclone Harry hit the region . But authorities have not confirmed, denied or corrected those reports. In the weeks that followed the cyclone, more than 20 decomposing bodies washed ashore in Italy and Libya while other human remains were spotted floating in the middle of the sea. For the families of missing migrants, not knowing their fate is excruciating. “Europe should know that these people who got

原文链接: AP News