90 migrants feared dead in boat capsize off Libya — UN

GENEVA: At least 90 people were feared dead on Friday in the latest migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, the UN migration agency said.

A boat carrying the migrants capsized off the coast of Zuwara in the early hours Friday, International Organisation (IOM) for Migration spokeswoman Olivia Headon told reporters in Geneva by phone from Tunis.

“At least 90 migrants are reported to have drowned, when a boat capsized off the coast of Libya this morning”, the agency added in a statement.

It said that “10 bodies are reported to have washed up on Libyan shores”, including two Libyan nationals and eight Pakistanis.

Two survivors from the disaster had swum to shore, while another was rescued by a fishing boat, it added.

The agency has repeatedly issued warnings over the extreme dangers facing migrants who try to reach Europe via the so-called central Mediterranean route, which connects Libya to Italy.

IOM said Friday that more than 6,600 migrants and refugees had already entered Europe by sea since the beginning of the year, with central Mediterranean route crossings to Italy accounting for nearly 65 per cent of the entries.

Drownings in the Mediterranean began surging in 2013 as Europe’s worst migration crisis since World War II began picking up speed, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Over the past five years, more than 16,000 people have died trying to make the perilous crossing to Europe, according to IOM numbers.