Libya |

At Least 61 Migrants Drown Off Libya

December 18, 2023
[caption id="attachment_4268" align="alignleft" width="1023"]Shoes of immigrants are pictured on the beach, who died after their boat capsized, in Qassr Alkhyar, Libya February 14, 2023 | Photo: REUTERS/ Libyan Red Crescent/Handout Shoes of immigrants are pictured on the beach, who died after their boat capsized, in Qassr Alkhyar, Libya February 14, 2023 | Photo: REUTERS/ Libyan Red Crescent/Handout[/caption] The International Organization for Migration said the ship left Libya with 86 people on board, and women and children were among those killed in the shipwreck. More than 60 migrants drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya, the International Bureau of Migration announced on Saturday. This is the latest chapter in the continuing death toll in the Mediterranean Sea as Africans flee hunger, conflict, and other insecurities to far-flung shores. The International Organization for Migration in Libya said in a post on the social platform X that women and children were among the 61 migrants who died. The Libyan government did not immediately comment on the agency’s report. The boat had set off from the Libyan city of Zwara with about 86 people, the agency said, citing survivors of the shipwreck. It was unclear exactly when it began its voyage. The I.O.M. said “the central Mediterranean continues to be one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes.” Earlier this year, at least 73 migrants died in another disaster off the Libyan coast. That episode involved a boat carrying at least 80 people that was believed to have departed from Qasr Alkayar, Libya, on Feb. 14, bound for Europe, the I.O.M. said at the time. Seven people survived, and 11 bodies were recovered, it said.

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