At least 26 migrants died on Wednesday when two overloaded boats capsized about 14 miles (23 kilometres) off Italy’s southern island of Lampedusa, the Italian coast guard and United Nations agencies said. The authorities rescued roughly 60 people and were still searching for 10 to 17 others reported missing. Survivors told officials that between 92 and 97 migrants — mostly men but also several women and children — left the Tripoli area of Libya in the early hours of the day. When one of the wooden vessels began taking on water, everyone crowded onto the second boat, which later overturned in rough seas. Five coast-guard and naval vessels, two aircraft and a helicopter were deployed to the scene. The latest fatalities push the provisional death toll on the central Mediterranean migration route to about 700 so far this year, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the tragedy underscored the need to stop "unscrupulous traffickers,” while Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi called for stronger efforts to prevent departures from North Africa. Aid groups reiterated pleas for wider legal pathways and more timely sea rescues.