Migrants in Libya die on four-day container journey

Human trafficking adds 13 more lives to its deadly toll

CAIRO // Thirteen African migrants suffocated inside a shipping container while on a four-day journey between two Libyan towns, a Red Crescent official said yesterday.

Osama Al Fadly, head of the Red Crescent in Libya, said the deceased were among 69 migrants, many from Mali, who were packed into the container. The locked container was transported from the central town of Bani Walid to Khoms in western Libya, from where the migrants were to be taken across the Mediterranean.

Instead, the traffickers unloaded the human cargo near an anti- trafficking force in Khoms on Tuesday. Mr Al Fadly said the deaths happened on Monday and many of the survivors suffered broken limbs when they were thrown out of the container. A fiveyear- old girl was among the survivors. Two of the victims were aged 13 and 14, he said.

On its official Facebook page, the Red Crescent in Khoms posted pictures of the survivors, some of them with their arms in bandages, swollen eyes and bruises.

The bodies of the victims were lined up, covered with bedclothes, and then moved to black plastic bags that the Red Crescent marked with names and numbers of those who were identified by fellow migrants.

The tragedy is one of the latest in Libya, where human trafficking has thrived amid lawlessness in the North African country since the 2011 downfall of longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi. Competing governments based in east and west Libya rely on militias to maintain security and order. However, the militias and weaponry grew in number and some have become involved in human trafficking.

Rights groups said migrants traversing Libya have been tortured, raped and sent to forced labour. With summer approaching, the number of migrants trying to cross the sea rises and deaths become more frequent.

Earlier this week, dozens of migrants washed ashore at the western Libyan city of Zawiya after their rubber boat lost its engine. A survivor told the aid group that more than 100 people drowned.

The Libya-to-Italy smuggling route across the Mediterranean was the site of record numbers of migrant drownings last year, Fabrice Leggeri, director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, said last week.

About 4,579 migrant deaths were documented in 2016 – up from 2,869 deaths the previous year and 3,161 in 2014. The real number of deaths is believed to be much higher. More than 180,000 people made the crossing last year, up 17 per cent from 2015.

The deceased were among 69 migrants, many from Mali, who were packed into the container