The survivors, who said their vessel had initially carried 105 people, were found clinging to the wreckage of an overturned boat before being taken aboard nearby ships, according to Mediterranea Saving Humans and Sea-Watch. The bodies and survivors were later transferred to an Italian coast guard patrol boat and brought to the island of Lampedusa.

Italy’s interior ministry declined to comment on the incident, while the Italian Coast Guard did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation. The rescue took place during Easter, a major holiday in Italy.

Footage released by Sea-Watch showed migrants struggling in open waters, with several individuals holding onto the partially submerged orange hull as rescuers approached.

The central Mediterranean route, one of the world’s deadliest migration corridors, has been further complicated this year by adverse weather conditions. Rough seas have reduced the number of departures from North Africa but increased the risks for those attempting the journey.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that at least 683 people have died along the central Mediterranean route so far this year, marking one of the highest death tolls recorded since 2014.

The quake hit at 8:42 p.m. local time (1612 GMT) at a depth of 186 km, with its epicentre in Badakhshan Province, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Afghanistan’s health ministry said the fatalities occurred in the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul Province, where a single family was buried under the impact of the tremor. “Eight members of a family died as a result of the earthquake,” ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said in a statement.

He added that a child, estimated to be around two years old, survived but was injured. The country’s disaster management agency confirmed the child had sustained injuries during the incident.

Journalists reported that the tremors were felt in Kabul and other parts of the country, though no immediate wider casualty figures were released.

Afghanistan lies along the seismically active Hindu Kush region, where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates converge, making earthquakes a frequent occurrence.

The latest quake follows a series of deadly seismic events in recent years, including an August tremor that killed more than 2,200 people in eastern Afghanistan after devastating remote mountain communities.

State news agencies TASS and RIA, citing the ministry, said the aircraft lost communication before going down on the Black Sea peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The ministry said the dead included 23 passengers and six crew members, with no survivors reported.“The An-26 aircraft, with which communication was lost earlier, crashed into a cliff,” TASS quoted officials at the crash site as saying.

Authorities located the wreckage in Crimea, though further operational details were not immediately disclosed.Russia’s defense ministry did not provide additional comment outside regular business hours.

RIA news agency reported that, according to an initial assessment, technical problems were believed to have caused the crash.

No confirmation was given on whether an official investigation had been launched or if other factors were being examined.

The An-26 is a Soviet-era twin-engine turboprop widely used for military transport and logistics operations.