TRIPOLI— Eighteen migrants have drowned after their boat sank off
Libya, the coastguard said Tuesday, the latest tragedy on the dangerous
Mediterranean
Sea crossing to Europe.
اضافة اعلان
Rescue vessels picked up 51 survivors from Sunday night's shipwreck, a
coastguard official in the port of Zuwara, 120km west of the capital Tripoli,
told AFP.
The official said the 18 who died were all Egyptians, citing testimonies
from the survivors.
The International Organization for Migration had earlier reported 16
migrants missing, including a woman and a child.
It was not immediately clear what caused the boat to sink, but vessels
leaving the North African coast for Europe are often heavily overloaded
makeshift crafts, departing at night even in rough weather to avoid detection
by the coastguard.
Nearly 970 migrants have died trying to reach Europe from Libya since the
start of the year.
Last month, the IOM said the number of people who had died trying to cross
the Mediterranean nearly doubled in the first half of 2021 compared with the
same period last year.
Despite persistent violence since the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator
Muammer Gadafi, Libya has become one of the main departure points for migrants
from sub-Saharan Africa trying to reach Europe.
Most head for the Italian coast around 300km away.
The European Union has for several years supported Libyan forces to try to
stem migration, despite often grim conditions in detention centers in Libya.
International agencies have repeatedly denounced the return to Libya of
migrants intercepted at sea.
The Libyan coastguard picked up more than 13,000 people in the first half of
this year, exceeding the total figure for 2020, according to the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees.
That figure has now risen to 20,257, according to the IOM.
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