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.
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Bodies wash ashore
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.
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'Deadliest known migration route in the world'
The central Mediterranean route is described by IOM as the "deadliest known migration route in the world, marked by increasingly dangerous smuggling practices, limited rescue capacity and growing restrictions on humanitarian operations."
The IOM has set up a Search and Rescue program within Libya, which it says "aims to reduce these risks by providing emergency assistance to migrants upon disembarkation and after desert rescues, while also supporting counterparts with tailored infrastructure and specialized equipment."
The Catholic news agency in Germany, KNA, reported on Wednesday that search operations continued to look for survivors of the two shipwrecks but that "hope is fading."
In May this year, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported that the number of migrants in Libya is growing once again "despite the serious threats they are exposed to."
OCCRP is an investigative journalism organization headquartered in Amsterdam that reports on crime and corruption globally. The organization says it is a "mission-driven nonprofit newsroom" and that it "upholds the highest standards for public interest reporting."
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Increasing migration and instability in Libya
Clashes between rival militias in Libya and the overall security situation in the country are putting migrants "at greater risk," reports OCCRP. According to the organization, in February, there were an estimated 858,604 migrants, "representing a 19 percent increase compared to the same period last year."
OCCRP was quoting data from IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM). OCCRP said that the population in Libya was highly concentrated with 83 percent coming from just four countries, Sudan, Niger, Egypt and Chad.
Geopolitical instability, causing wars and conflict, as well as the economy were the two main drivers of people’s migration. The ongoing civil war in Sudan is driving more and more Sudanese to migrate to Libya.
About 74 percent of migrants also cited a lack of financial opportunities in their own countries as a reason for migrating to Libya.
Around one third of migrants surveyed in Libya said they had originally intended to settle there. About 42 percent said they had "no plans," 11 percent said they planned to move to another country and around 16 percent said they hoped to return to their country of origin, reported OCCRP.
Since the beginning of the year, to June 18, Italian government sources registered 28,509 arriving in Italy by small boat, mostly from North Africa, although not exclusively from Libya. With the exception of March this year, the number of arrivals registered in Italy has been consistently slightly higher than the equivalent arrival numbers for that month in 2024; however, significantly fewer have arrived per month than the equivalent month in 2023.