TRIPOLI/ATHENS — At least eight people died in two separate Mediterranean crossings this weekend, as five bodies washed ashore near Libya’s capital and Greek authorities recovered three more off the island of Crete while rescuing dozens.
Residents in the coastal town of Qasr al-Akhyar, east of Tripoli, found five bodies Saturday and alerted police, according to Hassan al-Ghawil, head of investigations at the local station. He told Reuters the dead were “dark-skinned people,” including two women, and said bystanders reported a child’s body briefly appearing before waves carried it back out to sea. Authorities notified the Libyan Red Crescent to retrieve the remains, and police said they feared more would surface as currents shift.
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Farther north, a wooden boat carrying migrants and asylum seekers capsized during a rescue off Crete, Greece’s state-run Athens News Agency reported. The Greek coast guard said three bodies were recovered and at least 20 people were pulled from the water; survivors were mostly Egyptians and Sudanese, including four minors, according to the agency. Public broadcaster ERT said the vessel overturned as passengers tried to climb ladders onto a commercial ship engaged in the rescue.
The search off Crete continued late Saturday, the coast guard said, with four patrol boats, an aircraft and two vessels from the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, combing the area. Survivors told authorities about 50 people had been aboard. A second boat believed to be carrying roughly 40 people was also spotted nearby, triggering another operation.
The latest deaths deepen a grim toll along the central and eastern Mediterranean routes. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on February 9 that some 53 people, including two babies, were dead or missing after a rubber dinghy carrying 55 capsized off Zuwara, in western Libya. In January alone, at least 375 migrants were reported dead or missing in the central Mediterranean amid a series of “invisible” shipwrecks during severe weather, the agency said, noting that many fatalities are likely never recorded.
Thousands attempt the perilous sea crossing from Libya to Europe each year, drawn by the prospect of safety and work and pushed by conflict, poverty and abuses along overland routes. The North African country has become a major launch point since the 2011 overthrow of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi fractured state institutions and enabled smuggling networks to proliferate.
In a report last week, United Nations experts warned that migrants in Libya — including young girls — face grave risks of killing, torture, rape and domestic servitude. The report urged a moratorium on returning intercepted boats to Libya until authorities there can ensure human rights protections, renewing criticism from humanitarian groups that argue current deterrence and containment policies strand people in harm’s way.
Many of those departing Libya attempt to reach Crete, seen as a gateway to the European Union. The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) says more than 16,770 asylum seekers arrived on Crete in 2025. Confronted with rising arrivals, Greece’s conservative government last summer suspended asylum application processing for three months, particularly affecting people arriving from Libya. UNHCR records show 107 people died or went missing in Greek waters in 2025.
The weekend incidents underscore the persistent danger on the Mediterranean’s deadliest migration corridor and the limits of search-and-rescue capacity across vast sea spaces. As winter weather and unstable, overcrowded boats combine to heighten risks, the IOM and UNHCR have called for expanded, state-led rescue operations, predictable disembarkation and safer legal pathways — measures they say would reduce deaths while easing pressure on frontline coastal communities.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
