Nearly 50 migrants are feared dead after a boat carrying them sank in the Mediterranean Sea, according to a report by Malta’s Times of Malta on January 27, 2026. One survivor was rescued and taken to Malta for medical treatment. The Maltese military said the man had floated in the sea for about 24 hours before being rescued by a commercial ship heading toward Tunisia. He estimated that around 50 people on board drowned.

The boat had departed from the coast of Tunisia in North Africa, a common starting point for risky sea journeys toward Europe. Such incidents occur frequently as migrants from Asia and Africa attempt to cross the Mediterranean in small, unsafe boats. The nationalities of the rescued person and other passengers remain unknown.

According to the organization Missing Migrants, 33,326 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014. So far this year, 26 people have been reported dead or missing, compared with 1,873 in 2025.