U.N.: 74 drown after boat capsizes near Libya

CAIRO » At least 74 migrants drowned after their Europebound ship capsized off the coast of Libya on Thursday, the U.N.’smigration agency said, in the latest in a series of at least eight shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean since last month. The boat was carrying over 120 migrants, including women and children, when it capsized off the coast of the Libyan port of al-Khums, said the International Organization for Migration. Only 47 people were rescued by the Libyan coast guard and fishermen and brought to shore. So far 31 bodies were retrieved as the search for the remaining victims continued, added the IOM.

At least 20,000 people have died in those waters since 2014, according to the IOM.