Migrants on a boat on the sea. Illustrative photo.
Tripoli – At least 55 people, including women and children, drowned on Tuesday after a vessel capsized off the coast of Libya. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) informed about it today. Six dozen migrants tried to get to Europe on a rubber boat, five of them survived the accident, they were rescued by the Libyan coast guard.
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According to the AP agency, IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli said that among the survivors are three men from Pakistan, one Egyptian and a child from Syria. According to her, the boat capsized not long after setting sail from Gasr Garabulli (Castelverde) near Tripoli. According to her, the coast guard has so far recovered the bodies of nine men and one child from the sea.
“This carnage at sea must stop. States must fulfill their duty to save lives,” she said on Twitter Msehliová.
At least 537 people have drowned in the central Mediterranean this year, according to the IOM, including 441 in the first three months, the highest number in six years. More than 4,300 migrants have been prevented this year by the coast guard of Libya trying to cross the sea to Europe.
Refugees are often victims of smugglers and those caught by the coast guard off the Libyan shores are placed in detention centers where, according to the UN, they are often inhuman conditions. There are beatings, sexual violence, torture and enslavement. In addition, according to the AP agency, abuse is often accompanied by efforts to obtain money from the families of detained persons, who are only then allowed to leave Libya on smugglers' boats. the financial support provided by the European Union to the Libyan authorities for the detention and arrest of refugees also contributed.
After the fall of the dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was overthrown by a popular uprising with the help of NATO military intervention in 2011, the oil powerhouse of Libya fell into chaos. Conflicting administrations and related militias have been competing for power there for years.
