At least 18 migrants are confirmed to have died after their overcrowded wooden boat capsized off the coast of Libya late on October 27. IOM and the Red Crescent said that several dozen people meanwhile were rescued.
No information was immediately available about the nationalities and backgrounds of those who perished during the accident at sea off the coast of Libya.
Among the survivors, there were "29 Sudanese men, one Sudanese woman, and one Sudanese child; 18 Bangladeshi men; 12 Pakistani men; and three Somali men," according to a statement by the IOM, implying that there were at least 64 survivors.
According to the local Red Crescent branch, the total tally of survivors was at over 90 individuals, with many believed to be people from Sudan trying to escape the escalation of the war there.
Rescue operations ran through the night and were called off in the later morning hours of October 28.
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Body bags and first aid
The incident reportedly took place off the coast of Surman, which is situated about 60 kilometers to the west of the Libyan capital Tripoli along the country's Mediterranean coast.
According to local news reports, the boat had reportedly departed from the nearby city of Al Zawiya.
The UN migration agency added that the migrant vessel had "capsized only a few hours into its journey due to high waves" at sea.
Pictures provided by the Reuters news agency from the incident show local Red Crescent volunteers carrying several bodies from the shore in white body bags while other rescue workers were pictured providing first aid to the survivors.
IOM added it was working with local partners such as the Red Crescent to assist survivors on the ground with access to essential services.
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More than 1,000 deaths along Libyan coast this year
"This latest shipwreck is a stark reminder of the grave dangers faced by people undertaking perilous sea journeys in search of safety and opportunity," IOM pointed out in its statement, highlighting that the central Mediterranean route from northern Africa to Europe remains "one of the world's deadliest migration corridors."
The IOM's Missing Migrant Project added in a statement that "even one death is one too many."
To date this year, the Missing Migrants Project has documented well over 1,000 deaths and disappearances along the central Mediterranean route, with more than half of those deaths taking place near the Libyan coast.
Earlier in October, the bodies of at least 61 migrants were reported to have been recovered over two weeks in the west of the country between the towns of Zuwara and Ras Ijdir.
Since the fall of longterm Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi during a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, large parts of Libya have become effectively lawless, allowing for a massive network of people smugglers and human traffickers to thrive, turning the North African nation into the main transit route for migrants seeking to come to Europe across the Mediterranean Sea.
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However, Libya is not the only country of departure for countless scores of migrants, who try to reach Europe using irregular means each year.
Just last week, another 40 migrants with origins in sub-Saharan Africa drowned after a shipwreck off the Tunisian coast.
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with AFP, Reuters