File photo used as illustration: Rescue operations underway at Abusitta Base in Tripoli, Libya | Photo: Moayad Zaghdani /IOM 2024
The UN Migration Agency (IOM) on June 17 confirmed that two shipwrecks off the coast of Libya in the last week may have resulted in at least 60 people missing, believed to be dead.
Two ship wrecks, thought to have taken place on June 12 and June 13 last week are believed to have resulted in at least 60 people missing, now believed to be dead, confirmed the UN Migration Agency IOM on Tuesday (June 17).
During the first shipwreck on June 12, 21 people were reported missing and there were five survivors. The boat on which the migrants had been traveling went down near Alshab port in Tripolitania, said IOM. Among those dead are six Eritreans, including three women and three children, five Pakistanis, four Egyptians and two Sudanese men. Identities of at least four others remain unknown.
In a second shipwreck, a day later on June 13, about 35 kilometers west of Tobruk, there was just one survivor who was rescued by fishermen, reports IOM. The survivor told the UN agency that about 39 people were lost at sea in this instance.
In the days that followed, confirms IOM, at least three bodies have washed ashore. Two made land on Umm Aqiqih beach on June 14 and another on Elramla beach in downtown Tobruk on Sunday (June 15).
Identification efforts are ongoing, said IOM, with support of the Sudanese community in Libya.
“With dozens feared dead and entire families left in anguish, IOM is once again urging the international community to scale up search and rescue operations and guarantee safe, predictable disembarkation for survivors,” said Othman Belbeisi, Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at IOM. “We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and all those affected.”
According to the IOM’s Missing Migrants project, at least 743 people have already died crossing the Mediterranean to Europe since the beginning of the year. 538 were on the central Mediterranean route which is where these further 60 people have also lost their lives.
TunisianMonitorOnline (InfoMigrants)
