Boat with migrants sinks off Libya killing at least 50

CAIRO (AP):

A boat carrying Sudanese refugees caught fire and sank over the weekend off Libya’s coast, killing at least 50 people as it headed toward Greece, the International Organization for Migration said Thursday.

The boat sank about 60 kilometres (40 miles) off the coast of the eastern Libyan city of Tobruk, the UN migration agency said. The agency had said earlier that the boat was carrying 75 Sudanese refugees when it sank and that only 24 survivors had been rescued.

The Libyan Red Crescent said Monday that it had recovered bodies from the coast about 60 kilometres west of Tobruk and about 90 kilometres (60 miles) east of the city, but it was unclear if they were those of the Sudanese migrants. The humanitarian organisation didn’t provide further details.

In a separate incident, authorities in the western Libya coastal city of Zuwara said they rescued 35 migrants, including five women and a child, from a boat off the coast on Tuesday.

Libya has been a main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.

Earlier this month, a migrant boat capsized off Libya’s coast, leaving one dead and 22 missing, Libyan authorities said. In December, at least 61 migrants, including women and children, drowned off the coast of western Libya.

According to the Missing Migrants Project run by the IOM, at least 434 migrants have been reported dead and 611 missing off Libya in the past eight months.

Libya was plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocratic leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.