No less than 19 migrants lacking after boat capsizes off coast of Libya

A ship carrying about two dozen migrants capsized within the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya on Saturday, with at the very least 19 individuals lacking and presumed lifeless, authorities stated.

Libya’s coast guard stated {that a} group of 23 migrants – Egyptians and Syrians – set off from the jap metropolis of Tobruk earlier within the day. Three migrants have been rescued and brought to hospital. Just one physique was retrieved and search efforts have been ongoing, the company stated.

The shipwreck is the newest tragedy at sea involving migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean from the north African nation in a determined try to achieve European shores. Libya has emerged because the dominant transit level for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Center East, hoping for a greater life in Europe.

Human traffickers in recent times have benefited from the chaos in Libya, smuggling in migrants throughout the oil-rich nation’s prolonged borders with six nations. The migrants are then packed into ill-equipped rubber boats and set off on dangerous sea voyages.

No less than 192 migrants drowned alongside the Central Mediterranean route within the first two months of 2022, the Worldwide Group for Migration (IOM) stated. Greater than 2,930 have been intercepted and brought again to Libya. As soon as again, the migrants are usually taken to government-run detention centres rife with abuse and ill-treatment.

In 2021, at the very least 32,425 migrants have been intercepted and returned to Libya. No less than 1,553 are presumed to have drowned final yr, based on IOM.