The bodies of 26
migrants have been recovered off the Libyan coast, a local official said on
Saturday.
The bodies washed up on Friday on a beach in the city of Sabratha,
around 60 kilometres west of Tripoli, Zakaraia al-Keep, an official at the
Sabratha municipal council told dpa.
“All the bodies belonged to persons from
Sub-Saharan African countries.”
He added that authorities evacuated
holidaymakers from the beach and closed it for several days.
It was not clear
when the incident occurred. Elsewhere in Libya, the coastguard on Friday
rescued 137 migrants near Tripoli as they tried to reach Europe in a rubber
boat, another official said.
The migrants, who included 27 women and two
children, were rescued off the Gharbuli coast, 35 kilometres east of Tripoli,
spokesman for the Libyan Navy Ayub Ghasem told Libya al-Rasmeya broadcaster.
Libya has descended into chaos since the 2011 revolt that toppled long-time
dictator Moamer Gaddafi. The country has since turned into a major hub for
migrants seeking to go to Europe via people-smuggling routes.
This year’s death
toll for migrants crossing the Mediterranean is close to 3,000, the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday.
Most of the deaths
have happened on the central Mediterranean route from Libya to Italy. But IOM
Libya chief Othman Belbeisi said the Libyan coastguard has improved its data
collection on migrants trying to reach Europe and has shown some success in
preventing these dangerous journeys
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