(Photo by Mstyslav Chernov via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0)
Just imagine. It is summer at last. The midday sun is beating down on the warm sand on the beaches across Southern Europe and Northern Africa. “The Mediterranean is more than a sea — it’s a sun-soaked playground”, insists package holiday retailer, Loveholidays.
You are covered head to toe in sunscreen, an ice cream in hand. The turquoise water sparkles, invitingly, as you dip your toes in the waves lapping on the shore. It all makes for a perfect vacation in the Mediterranean, don’t you think?
Yet, below the surface, the picture is not so serene. Carefree beachgoers seem blissfully unaware of the thousands of deaths that occur each year on the Mediterranean Sea. Over 2,200 people died while crossing the Mediterranean in 2024. From January to June 2025, 748 migrants have died or gone missing, according to the Missing Migrants Project.
Since the International Organization for Migration (IOM) began monitoring deaths and disappearances in the Mediterranean in 2014, thousands of migrants have gone missing every year. 2016 recorded the highest figure: 5,136.
Sixty people “feared dead”
On June 12, 2025, a ship carrying over 20 migrants from Egypt, Eritrea, Pakistan, and Sudan sank off the coast of Tripolitania, Libya, leaving only five survivors. The following day — June 13 — there was another shipwreck around 35 kilometres off the coast of Tobruk, Libya. Of the 40 people on board, only one is known to have survived.
Al Jazeera published the story of the two shipwrecks on 17th June, 2025. Despite the high death toll reported by the IOM, most media outlets did not cover the story.
Perhaps, the failure to cover the story is due to desensitization. Since 2016, we have read the identical headline every few months:
The Guardian, 2016: Hundreds feared dead in migrant shipwreck off Libya
Al Jazeera, 2017: 126 refugees feared dead after shipwreck off Libya
BBC, 2019: Libya shipwreck: Scores of migrants feared drowned
France 24, 2023: At least 61 migrants drown after shipwreck off Libya
The same story time and time again; the same entirely avoidable tragedy. The question is, why do these frequent shipwrecks off the coast of Libya continue to happen?
Migrant Routes in the Mediterranean
There are three main migratory routes used by migrants travelling from Africa and Asia to continental Europe: the Western Mediterranean route, the Eastern Mediterranean route and the Central Mediterranean route.
The Central Mediterranean route stretches from North Africa to Italy and Malta, and is one of the most used migratory routes in the world. It also happens to be the most dangerous. The IOM reports that tens of thousands of migrants have disappeared along the Central route since their records began in 2014.
Some risks of travelling on the Central Mediterranean route are related to natural phenomena. The crossing is long and prone to unpredictable storms, strong winds and choppy waters. Navigation may also be a concern due to the presence of rocks and currents.
The principal dangers of the Central Mediterranean route are by design. Tightened rules surrounding legal safe routes mean many migrants have no choice but to pay people smugglers for their journey to Europe. Criminal networks take advantage of migrants’ lack of options, charging huge amounts of money for the crossing.
Smugglers force migrants to undertake the journey in boats that are not fit for purpose, leaving those on board extremely vulnerable.
Fortress Europe
The danger of the Central Mediterranean route for migrants crossing to Europe is not coincidental. In an opinion piece for the Guardian, human rights activist Pia Klemp writes, “Fortress Europe kills.”
Klemp argues that the European Union (EU) not only fails to prevent migrant deaths in the Mediterranean but also causes them. She goes on to say, “[Deaths at sea are] clearly not a humanitarian issue but a political catastrophe.”
Amnesty International blames the EU for hundreds of migrant deaths on the Central Mediterranean route. They have accused Italian and Maltese authorities of “hostile treatment” and obstructing non-governmental organisations’ (NGOs) rescue efforts.
Similarly, human rights groups criticize the European border agency Frontex for its failure to rescue migrant boats in distress. NGO front-lex has filed lawsuits against Frontex and some EU officials for their alleged human rights violations towards migrants.
The Politics Fueling Fortress Europe
Although anti-immigration sentiment toward non-EU nationals is prevalent in the EU, policymakers and the media often exaggerate negative opinions about immigration. Negative portrayals of immigration in the media cause greater levels of fear about immigration. Only 38% of EU citizens feel well-informed about immigration, so sensationalized news stories fill this knowledge gap, leading to misinformation and misconceptions about immigrants. A Guardian article from 2019 describes the trend as “manufactured rage”.
Policymakers’ decisions are not in alignment with public opinion. Polls suggest that over half of EU citizens are favourable toward immigration. Yet, in 2025, the European Commission tightened immigration laws. They fear that if they do not, far-right parties will be able to win more votes by exploiting the topic of immigration. We see a notable shift to the right in European politics, with centrist parties adopting ( and normalizing) right-wing ideals to appeal to rising levels of populism.
Al Jazeera reports that the EU is “fast-tracking removals, expanding detention centres, and strengthening cooperation with third countries to facilitate deportations.” One such third country is Libya.
Libya: The EU’s Silent Partner in Migrant Abuse
In a previous article, Spheres of Influence reported that many people travelling across the Mediterranean on the Central route must transit through Libya. As a result, many people wishing to cross the sea to Europe get stuck in detention centres in the North African country. Doctors without Borders discloses that, “[Detainees] are exposed to horrific levels of violence, including kidnapping, torture, and extortion.”
Despite Libya’s well-documented human rights abuses, the EU gives money to the Libyan authorities to prevent migrants from reaching Europe. From 2017 to 2024, the EU sent 57 million euros to the Libyan coast guard, an armed group that controls the Libyan coast. In April 2025, the coast guard received EU-funded training in Italy to “elevate the [Libyan coast guard’s] operational efficiency in managing maritime borders.” Meanwhile, Frontex allegedly collaborates with the coast guard to send migrants on the Central Mediterranean route to detention centres in Libya.
The EU is aware of the Libyan coast guard’s human rights violations but continues to support them. In 2022, the German government refused to continue training members of the Libyan coast guard over their horrific treatment of migrants. Such treatment includes capsizing and shooting at boats, beating people on board with sticks, and preventing NGO lifeboats from rescuing boats in distress.
In an article for Deutsche Welle, a survivor of a boat disaster shared, “The Libyan coastguard let [three young men] die in front of our eyes and even insulted them as they drowned.”
Preventable Tragedies
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) highlights the importance of “government and private vessels [having] a duty to assist people and crafts in distress at sea”. Yet, deaths in the Mediterranean are a direct result of policies that persecute migrants and refugees.
Stories about immigration often reduce immigrants and refugees to statistics, not taking into account individuals’ backstories. The consequence of this is that such high levels of dehumanization allow fatal shipwrecks to go unnoticed and unmentioned.
At the same time, while thousands of lives are lost at sea, news outlets pose the important questions: “Should we be worried that the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean will start to have a significant effect on holiday resorts?”
Perhaps it’s something to consider when planning your next Mediterranean getaway?
Edited by Khushi Mehta
