UN: Dozens presumed dead after capsizing boat off Libyan coast | Migration news

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According to survivors, 20 women and two children were among those who drowned when their boat capsized, according to IOM.

A boat carrying migrants capsized off Libya, killing at least 57 people, a UN migration official said.

Safa Msehli, spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration, said the boat left the coastal town of Khums on Sunday. There were at least 75 people on board.

Eighteen people from the ship were rescued and brought ashore on Monday, Msehli said.

Survivors, from Nigeria, Ghana and The Gambia, reported that the ship stopped due to an engine problem and then capsized in bad weather, Msehli said.

“According to survivors brought ashore by fishermen and the coast guard, at least 20 women and two children have drowned,” Msehli wrote on Twitter.

The capsizing is the latest disaster in the Mediterranean Sea involving migrants and refugees seeking a better life in Europe.

Monday’s deaths came less than a week after around 20 people also drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, while 500 were intercepted and returned to Libya.

There has been an increase in crossings and attempted crossings from Libya in recent months.

Nearly 15,000 refugees, asylum seekers and migrants were intercepted by the EU-backed Libyan coast guard in the first half of this year, which the United Nations said was more than those who disembarked throughout the year 2020.

Amnesty International said that in the first six months of this year more than 7,000 people intercepted at sea were forcibly returned to detention camps in Libya.

Libya has become a major transit route for people trying to reach Europe by boat since chaos erupted after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi.



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