At least 180 migrants are feared dead or missing following Mediterranean shipwrecks over the past 10 days, the United Nations reported on Tuesday, April 7th—bringing the total death toll to nearly 1,000 since the start of 2026.
According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), so far this year approximately 765 people have died in the Central Mediterranean—exceeding by 460 the total during the same period in 2025.
Across the Mediterranean as a whole, at least 990 deaths have been recorded in 2026, the IOM said, adding that this marks “one of the deadliest starts to a year since 2014,” when the organization first began collecting such data.
IOM Chief Amy Pope asserted:
Saving lives must come first. But we also need stronger, unified efforts to stop traffickers and smugglers from exploiting vulnerable people, and to expand safe and regular pathways—so no one is ever forced into these deadly journeys.
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