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UN: At least 55 migrants drowned near Libya

2023-04-26 19:30:25, Kosova & Bota CNA

A dinghy carrying dozens of migrants to Europe capsized off the coast of Libya and at least 55 people drowned, including women and children, the United Nations (UN) migration agency said on Wednesday.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that the disaster happened on Tuesday. The boat was carrying at least 60 migrants and departed from the coastal town of Garabouli, east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

The agency reported that five migrants survived the sinking of the ship and were brought back to shore by the Libyan coast guard. It was not immediately clear what happened to the boat.

Safa Msehli, IOM spokeswoman, said the ship capsized shortly after leaving Garabouli. She said the Libyan coastguard has so far recovered the bodies of nine men and a child.

Among the five survivors were four men — three Pakistanis and one Egyptian — and a Syrian child, Msehli told The Associated Press.

This is the latest in a series of tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea, a key route for migrants.

The IOM said that, so far this year, at least 537 people have drowned or gone missing in migrant disasters in the Mediterranean, while more than 4,300 people have been captured and returned to Libya.

Libya has emerged in recent years as a dominant transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East trying to reach Europe. The oil-rich country was plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Human traffickers have taken advantage of the chaos in Libya in recent years, smuggling migrants across the country's long borders, which borders six countries. Migrants pile into poorly equipped vessels, including dinghies, and embark on dangerous sea journeys.

According to UN-mandated investigators, those captured and returned to Libya are held in government detention centers, subject to ill-treatment, including forced labour, beatings, rape and torture – practices that amount to crimes against humanity.

Mistreatment is often accompanied by attempts to extort money from the prisoners' families, before the migrants are allowed to leave Libya on the smugglers' boats./ REL