Migrant boat wreck ‘worst Mediterranean tragedy’
CAIRO — Libya’s coast guard recovered dozens of bodies of Europe-bound migrants who perished at sea as search operations continued Friday, a day after up to 150 people, including women and children, went missing and were feared drowned when their boats capsized in the Mediterranean Sea.
A top U.N. official described Thursday’s shipwreck as “the worst Mediterranean tragedy” so far this year.
The Anti-illegal Immigration Agency in the Libyan capital said that as many as 350 migrants were onboard the boats that capsized off the town of Khoms, about 75 miles east of Tripoli.
The migrants included nationals from Eritrea, Egypt, Sudan and Libya, the agency said. Libyan officials said more than 130 had been rescued since Thursday.
One of the survivors, from Eritrea, said his vessel started to capsize after an hour of sailing. Most of the migrants onboard were women, he said, and most of them drowned.
“All of them (who drowned) were ladies ... only two girls rescued themselves,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of his safety.
Two other survivors, reached at a disembarking facility in Tripoli, told The Associated Press by phone that they had each paid between $200 and $400 to smugglers who promised they would reach Italy’s shores by sunset Thursday.
Ahmed al-tayeb, a 32-year-old from Sudan, said he was on one of three boats that capsized an hour after setting off from Libya on Wednesday night.
Egyptian Mustafa Mahmoud, 26, said Libyan fishermen were first to come to their rescue. “I saw lots of bodies, dozens, in the water,” he said. “Most of them were children and women who were not able to swim.”
At least a dozen of the survivors were taken to a hospital in Khoms while the rest were transferred to different detention centers, including Tajoura, located near the front lines of the fighting between rival Libyan factions, Libyan officials said.
The U.N. migration agency said later Friday that once they arrived, the 84 migrants were turned back from the detention center and were instead being “released gradually” into the town of Tajoura.
Separately from the shipwreck, Ayoub Gassim, a spokesman for Libya’s coast guard, said it had intercepted three rubber boats off Tripoli on Thursday, carrying 269 Europe-bound migrants, including nine women and two children. The 269 were taken to refugee camps in Tripoli, Gassim said.
Amnesty International called Friday on EU leaders to “show some courage” and reverse their decision to halt migrant rescues in the Mediterranean. The rights group appealed on European nations to change their approach and not “condemn those who survive to detention in Libya.”
The European Union has over the past years partnered with Libya to prevent migrants from making the dangerous journey by sea to Europe. Rights groups say those efforts have left migrants at the mercy of brutal armed groups or confined in squalid detention centers that lack adequate food and water.
The EU released a statement Friday saying it was deeply saddened by the tragedy off Libya’s coast and added that “sustainable solutions for search and rescue are urgently needed in the Mediterranean.”
U.N. Secretary-general Antonio Guterres reiterated that “Libya is not a safe country of asylum” and stressed that “refugees must be treated with dignity and respect, and in accordance with international law,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Friday.
Thursday’s shipwreck was “the worst Mediterranean tragedy” so far this year, said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.