In Libya, at least 28 bodies have been recovered along Libyan coasts in recent days. They are all believed to be the bodies of migrants who failed an attempted crossing to Europe.
Libya's Emergency Medicine and Support Center (EMSC), which is part of the country's health ministry, said that 17 bodies were recovered from the shores of Zuwara, located about 120 kilometers west of Tripoli, over the course of last weekend.
Images posted on EMSC social media pages on April 18 show emergency workers and medics on the scene of the discovery handling multiple bodies placed in white body bags.
The majority of the bodies have since been buried according to local protocols, the organization explained; only two of the bodies have not yet had confirmed burials.
One of the bodies was identified as a Bangladeshi national, whose family collected his remains in the Libyan capital Tripoli.
On the same day, the Libyan Red Crescent, said it had also discovered at least six bodies of people believed to be migrants on the beaches around the eastern city of Tobruk. The organization then posted a message on its Facebook account, confirming that a seventh body was found on Sunday. On Monday, April 20, a further four bodies were reported to have been found by the organization.
The organization wrote on Facebook, that the bodies could be from a boat that is reported to have left Libya on April 15. At least 32 people were reported missing from the craft, including women and children. The predominant nationalities of those on board are reported to have been Somali, Egyptian and Sudanese.
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Libya: Africa's dangerous gateway to Europe
Libya has long emerged as the main transit point for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa as well as the Middle East and Asia who are hoping to reach Europe.
Its proximity to the EU has led to a steady growth of a migrant smuggling industry over the years — especially since the fall of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.
With two rival governments emerging in the years since Gaddafi's fall, rule of law remains porous at best in many part of the vast desert nation on the Mediterranean Sea.
Smuggling networks have taken advantage of this, establishing major infrastructures to move irregular migrants through and out of the country.
Trafficking has also become rampant, where local militias are believed to be working closely with criminal groups to move people.
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Many migrants in Libya face highly exploitative and often-abusive conditions at the hands of smugglers and traffickers, with mounting reports of violence, rape, slavery and murder painting a dark picture of the reality of life in the country.
The European Union has signed multiple agreements with Libya's officially recognized government in Tripoli, paying large sums for Libyan officials to intercept migrants at sea and send them back to the mainland, where they are usually interred at detention centers under reportedly inhumane and extremely unsanitary conditions.
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with Reuters
This article was updated after publication on Monday, April 20, to reflect additional discoveries of bodies in other locations in Libya on Monday. The toll at the time of update at 16.15 pm is thought to be at least 28.