At least 15 dead migrants have washed ashore in Libya in a coastal city east of the capital, according to local medics. The number of fatalities in the Central Mediterranean since the start of the year and up until mid-June has seen an 81 percent year-on-year increase.
The bodies of at least 15 migrants have washed ashore in Libya in a coastal city east of the capital.
That's according to the Reuters news agency, which cited the Emergency Medicine and Support Center (EMCS).
According to EMCS, the bodies washed up in Al-Khums, also known as Khoms, roughly 100 kilometers east of Tripoli, Libya's capital. The center said all the bodies, which belong to "undocumented migrants", have been buried, Reuters reported.
EMCS posted photographs on its Facebook page showing their medics wearing white hazmat suits and carrying bodies in black and white plastic bags, among other things. The center also said the operations were conducted "in coordination with relevant authorities."
Read AlsoIn eastern Libya, 'the financial profits generated by migrant trafficking are very significant'
The Central Mediterranean route from Libya and Tunisia to Europe remains one of the deadliest migration corridors in the world. Earlier this month, the Italian coast guard recovered the bodies of 10 migrants after their boat capsized near Malta. Officials said they had ascertained that the migrant vessel had departed from Libya with around 60 people on board.
In late April, at least 17 people reportedly died after their boat broke down off Tobruk in eastern Libya.
According to the UN, at least 845 migrants have died or gone missing so far this year on the Central Mediterranean route, up from 466 during the same period last year. The figure for the respective period in 2024 was 735.
Trapped in a cycle of abuse and exploitation
Libya was plunged into turmoil following a 2011 NATO-backed uprising against longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Since 2014, the country has been split between western and eastern factions, with rival administrations governing from Tripoli and from Benghazi, each backed by militias and foreign powers. As a result of the political chaos, human traffickers have been thriving for years in the fragmented power vacuum.
Read AlsoEastern Libyan authorities recover 120 migrants from 'trafficking dens'
The country has become a key transit route for hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing conflict, poverty and insecurity across Africa, parts of the Middle East and other areas and countries including Bangladesh. Some arrive in Libya to work, but many arrive hoping to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
Although authorities in Libya have recently bolstered efforts to dismantle human trafficking and smuggling networks amid growing international concern over irregular migration flows across the Mediterranean, trafficking and smuggling networks adapt and instability endures.
With poor security throughout the country, many migrants in Libya remain trapped in a cycle of abuse and exploitation on land as well as life-threatening journeys at sea.
Those intercepted and returned by the Libyan coast guard are often placed in detention centers, some of which are run by smuggling gangs and other criminal organizations. The situation at these facilities is reportedly far worse than at official facilities, with sexual assault, slavery, extortion, torture and murder recorded across the board.
with Reuters