Several shipwrecks on the central Mediterranean route between North Africa and Italy in recent days have resulted in at least 38 dead and around 66 migrants missing. Two children died after one boat capsized mid-rescue on July 29. Recent events have prompted sea rescue organizations and the IOM to call on the EU to provide more safer migration routes to Europe.
At least 18 migrants are confirmed to have died in a shipwreck off the Libyan coast — just days after another migrant boat capsized in Mediterranean waters.
According to a Libyan Coast Guard official, the incident happened near the coastal city of Tobruk in the eastern part of the country, which is located near the border with Egypt.
Another 50 people are still missing from this most recent shipwreck, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which issued a statement about the incident on Tuesday (July 29). Ten people from this boat are confirmed to have survived.
According to the news agency Reuters — citing a "diplomatic source from the Egyptian consulate in Benghazi" in eastern Libya — the migrants involved in the incident were all Egyptian nationals.
The source added that ten bodies had already been identified and sent back to Egypt, while the survivors were being held in a detention facility for irregular immigrants in Libya.
"Libya remains a major transit point for migrants and refugees, many of whom face exploitation, abuse, and life-threatening journeys," IOM added, asking the international community to establish more safe ways to migrate to Europe.
The UN agency added that more must be done to combat human trafficking and smuggling.
Read AlsoEU urges Libya to combat Mediterranean migrant sea crossings
Second shipwreck in area in few days
This accident at sea follows another incident over the weekend when another 18 migrants died after their boat capsized.
At least another 15 migrants from that shipwreck remain missing, although the German Catholic KNA news agency cited that there were as many as 80 passengers on the ill-fated boat at the time of the incident.
Since the overthrow of longterm Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has increasingly become a transit country for migrants hoping to cross the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe.
Countless migrants say they have experienced serious abuse, exploitation, torture, or rape along their journeys to Libya and in Libya itself.
The IOM stresses that these kind of ongoing tragedies at sea serve as "a stark reminder of the deadly risks people are forced to take in search of safety and opportunity."
Read AlsoLibya's coast guard has intercepted and returned nearly 21,000 migrants in 2024
Two children die during rescue mission
Meanwhile, a third incident was reported on July 29, in which two children died and one person remains missing after a boat with over 90 people on board capsized in the Mediterranean.
The privately-run search and rescue organization Sea-Watch said it first spotted the boat in distress the previous day with its monitoring aircraft, the Seabird 2, alerting "all responsible European authorities," according to a press release.
A merchant vessel then came to the rescue a day after the alert was sent. However during that rescue mission, the boat capsized, which sent all passengers plunging into the sea and resulted in the fatalities.
Sea-Watch criticized the fact that "it took five hours for the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center to relay the distress message" and also that the EU border agency Frontex only sent its Sparrow 2 aircraft to the scene six hours after the initial sighting by the Seabird 2.
Sea-Watch said that the Sparrow 2 "flew directly over the boat in distress, but no rescue operation was initiated, and no direct response to the distress situation occurred."
"This incident is the result of systematic non-assistance," Paul Wagner, spokesperson for Sea-Watch, said.
"European authorities knew for almost a day that lives were at risk and chose not to rescue. This is murderous policy in action: a deliberate, planned manslaughter of children at sea," he added.
Scathing criticism of Italian government
Sea-Watch further condemned the fact that "(w)hile European authorities ignored their duty to rescue, the Sea-Watch rescue ship Aurora remained detained in Lampedusa port," referring to its rescue vessel which was impounded by Italian authorities on allegations of breaking migrant rescue regulations in Italian waters.
Sea-Watch added that Italian authorities have "arbitrarily blocked five civil rescue ships in the last six weeks," with their detention measures.
Read AlsoLibya: 1,500 migrants detained after weekend raids
with Reuters, AFP, AP, KNA