At least 74 dead in a boat wreck off the Libyan coast
At least 74 migrants lost their lives when the boat in which they intended to cross the Mediterranean and flee to Europe from the Libyan city of Khoms sank, sources from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) informed Efe today.
According to the same sources, a total of 121 people, including several women and minors, were travelling on the boat, which was chartered by local mafias.
Libyan coastguards have so far managed to recover a total of 31 bodies, which have been deposited on a beach in Khoms, while 47 survivors were rescued by a fishing boat, which returned them to port despite the fact that Libya is considered an "unsafe" country.
Once ashore they received first aid from IOM members before being returned to detention and internment centres, which according to the various NGOs working on the ground lack decent conditions and are often run by some of the many armed militias in the country.
This is the third shipwreck in the last week off the coast of Libya, a country in turmoil and civil war.
On Tuesday, at least 13 people disappeared in international waters when a dinghy that had left a few hours before sank off a beach near the Libyan capital.
According to the IOM, an agency linked to the UN, 11 more people were rescued by the Libyan Coast Guard and brought back to port, where they received first aid before being interrogated and transferred to detention centres.
On Wednesday, six more migrants lost their lives when the boat in which they also intended to flee was overturned after they had paid around a thousand euros to the various mafias operating along the west coast of Libya, a territory under the control of the National Accord Government that the UN has held in Tripoli (GNA) since the failed reconciliation plan of 2015.
Both shipwrecks coincided with the rescue of a further 85 people by the humanitarian ship chartered by the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, the only one currently present in the central Mediterranean, which is considered the deadliest route in the world.
In less than two days, the crew of the Spanish humanitarian ship has carried out three rescues and now has more than 250 survivors and six bodies on board, including a baby.
According to IOM data, in the last week alone more than a thousand migrants have been intercepted on the high seas by Libyan patrol boats and returned to Libya, even though it is considered "an unsafe country".
Over 11,000 people, including 776 women and 638 minors, have been intercepted and returned to Libya in the eleven months of this year, while 236 have perished at sea and 360 have been reported missing on the so-called "central Mediterranean route", considered the deadliest in the world.
Since the beginning of October, some 1,900 people have been intercepted and returned, while around 800 have managed to reach Italy.
"The increasing loss of life in the Mediterranean is a manifestation of the failure of states to take decisive action and redeploy the dedicated and much needed search and rescue capacity at the world's deadliest sea crossing," said Federico Soda, head of the IOM mission in Libya.
"We have long called for a change in the obviously unworkable approach of Libya and the Mediterranean, including an end to returns to the country .and the establishment of a clear landing mechanism followed by solidarity from other states. Thousands of vulnerable people continue to pay the price for inaction both at sea and on land," he said in a statement released today
