25 migrants found dead on Libya coast
TRIPOLI: The bodies of at least 25 migrants who drowned trying to reach Europe were found near Tripoli Tuesday, the Libyan Red Crescent said.
Some of the corpses were washed ashore on a beach near the Libyan capital, but most were on rocks off the suburb of Tajoura in a state of decomposition, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
The onset of warm weather has seen a surge in migrants boarding boats for the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, putting pressure on rescue services.
Italy’s coastguard said more than 8,000 migrants had been rescued off the coast of Libya in a 48-hour period to Tuesday.
Its Libyan counterpart said it had rescued 147 migrants, including 19 women and four children, off the western town of Sabratha on Tuesday morning.
Most were young people from Cameroon, Sudan, Mali and Senegal, said Libyan navy spokesman Qassem.
They were found crammed aboard a makeshift rubber dinghy, said an AFP cameraman who was on the rescue boat.
The coastguard moved them one by one onto a rescue vessel.
Once on board, the migrants remained silent, tired and visibly disappointed at not reaching their destination.
On their arrival in the port of Zawiya, west of Tripoli, they were put in a truck to be taken to a detention centre in the town.
A woman clutching her baby sobbed in the truck, her dreams of reaching Europe having evaporated in a matter of hours – along with the money she paid for the journey.
The navy spokesman, Qassem, said several migrant boats were spotted off Libya on Tuesday along with at least six privately operated ships “claiming to carry out rescue operations”. — AFP General Ayoub