File photo:A rescue swimmer holds onto migrants frantically trying to stay afloat after falling off their rubber dinghy during a rescue operation by the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship in the central Mediterranean in international waters some 15 nautical miles off the coast of Zawiya in Libya, April 14, 2017. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi
July 27, 2021
At least 57 people drowned on Monday after a boat capsized off the Libyan coast near Khums, the latest tragedy in the Mediterranean where more than 1,100 have perished this year, the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.
Bodies have not been recovered from the shipwreck, but survivors included migrants from Nigeria, Ghana and Gambia, IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli told Reuters.
“According to survivors brought to shore by fishermen and the coast guard, at least 20 women and two children were among those who drowned,” she said earlier by tweet.
“Despite an increase in arrivals in Europe, there is no crisis of numbers and arrivals remain manageable through better solidarity and improved governance and management of migration,” she added.
Migrant boat departures to Italy and other parts of Europe from Libya and Tunisia have increased in recent months with better weather. Hundreds of thousands have made the perilous crossing in the last years, many fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.
REUTERS
