100 migrants feared dead in boat disaster
THE bodies of three babies were recovered and around 100 people are still missing after a migrant boat sank off the coast of Libya yesterday.
About 120 migrants were aboard the inflatable dinghy, survivors brought ashore in Al-hmidiya, east of the capital Tripoli, told AFP.
The Libyans managed to rescue 16 migrants from the group and recovered the bodies of three children.
Ayoub Gassim, a coastguard spokesman, quoted a Yemeni survivor as saying the boat carried around 120 to 125 migrants, including women and children, before it capsized.
The Libyan coastguard also intercepted three smuggling boats carrying around 345 migrants east of Tripoli.
Libya is the main departure point for most migrants trying to reach Europe, usu- ally travelling in flimsy inflatable boats, provided by people-smugglers, that often get punctured or break down. More than 1,000 people have drowned or gone missing in the Mediterranean already this year.
Some migrants make it to international waters, where they hope to be picked up by international vessels, but increasing numbers are intercepted by the coastguard and returned to Libya.
Departures surged in 2014, when conflict in Libya worsened, and more than 650,000 migrants have crossed the central Mediterranean since then. But the traffic has slowed since last July, when smuggling networks on Libya’s coast were partially disrupted after heavy Italian pressure.