Twelve migrants are missing since last week in the western Mediterranean, according to Alarm Phone, a Tunisian platform specialized in tracking migrants in distress at sea. “A boat with 12 people missing in western Mediterranean. The group left Tipaza, in Algeria on June 29. We have had no news of them since their departure. We hope they will be found and brought to safety!” Alarm Phone wrote on its X account. Relatives of one of the 12 migrants had notified the platform about the boat missing and said they lost contact with the migrants since their departure a week ago. Spain’s Maritime Safety and Rescue Society, Salvamento Maritimo, announced it had not intercepted the boat or the migrants. Using the Mediterranean route to reach Europe is considered the deadliest for migrants, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). As the summer months offer more stable weather conditions, more migrant boats venture out to reach European shores. According to data from the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, over 1,410 people are feared dead or missing in the Mediterranean shipwrecks this year, including 225 migrants using the Western Mediterranean route. Last week, Pope Leo XIV visited Italy's Lampedusa island, a major port of call for migrants risking the perilous crossing from Africa, in a stark message to US and EU leaders. Leo's visit also comes just two weeks after the European Union's approval of new migrant rules allowing much broader detention powers and the creation of deportation centers outside the bloc. Lampedusa sits 145 kilometers off the coast of Tunisia, and is famous for showing compassion to thousands of migrants -- and taking in their dead.
