On Friday, the National Committee for Human Rights in Libya (NCHRL) expressed regret over the sinking of a migrant boat off the Libyan coast. This left more than 74 migrants dead.
“This horrific accident exacerbates the suffering of migrants, due to European Union’s policies that kill the people of Africa every day,” the NCHRL said in a statement.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced that 74 migrants had drowned after their boat sank near the coast of Al-Khums, in western Libya. The boat was carrying more than 120 people, including women and children.
“Staff in the region reported that more bodies continued to wash ashore overnight,” Safa Msehli told at a Geneva briefing. Fisherman and the Coast Guard had recovered 31 bodies from the first wreck, including a toddler.
Survivors are being held in the city of Al-Khums, she added, before calling on authorities to release them, and provide protection to prevent them from being subjected to smugglers and traffickers. Their nationalities were not specified.
The IOM reported that more than 10,000 immigrants were intercepted in 2020. Libya has been plagued by a state of insecurity and chaos that encourages thousands of illegal migrants to attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.