The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said that Libya’s coast guard intercepted about 400 migrants off the country’s Mediterranean coast, in the past two days.
Safa Msehli, a spokeswoman for the IOM said the migrants were taken to the Al-Nasser detention center in the town of Zawya, west of Tripoli. Mselhi said departures from Libya have increased, which is “especially worrying amid a sharp decrease in search, and rescue capacity.”
Despite the closure of Libya’s borders due to the outbreak of the COVID-19, over a 1,000 migrants attempted to reach Europe this month. Most migrants make the perilous journey in ill equipped, and unsafe rubber boats. The IOM said last month that its estimated death toll among migrants who have tried to cross the Mediterranean since 2014, has surpassed 20,000.