At least one person died and 22 others were reported missing after a boat carrying irregular migrants trying to reach Europe capsized off the Libyan coast on Tuesday, Libyan authorities said.
The coast guard in the eastern Libyan city of Tobruk said the boat was carrying 32 migrants and that nine had been rescued. Survivors are taken to a port in Tobruk, the coast guard says.
In recent years, the North African nation has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. In December, at least 61 migrants, including women and children, drowned outside the town of Zuwara on Libya’s west coast.
Libya was plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed Moammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Human traffickers have taken advantage of the disorder, smuggling migrants across Libya’s vast borders, which they share with six nations. The migrants are crammed onto poorly equipped vessels, including rubber dinghies, and embark on perilous sea journeys.
According to the Missing Migrants Project run by the International Organization for Migration, at least 434 migrants have been reported dead and 611 missing outside Libya in the past eight months. More than 14,100 migrants were intercepted and returned to the chaos-stricken country.
Last year, IOM reported 962 migrants dead and 1,563 missing outside Libya. About 17,200 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya in 2023, it said.
Those intercepted and returned to Libya are held in government-run detention centers rife with abuses, including forced labor, beatings, rape and torture — practices that amount to crimes against humanity, according to UN-commissioned investigators.
The abuses often accompany attempts to extort money from the families of the detained migrants before allowing them to leave Libya on traffickers’ boats to Europe.
The Daily Sabah newsletter
Stay updated with what is happening in Turkey, its region and the world.
REGISTER ME
You can unsubscribe at any time. By registering, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This website is protected by reCAPTCHA and Google’s privacy policy and terms of use apply.
