Libyan navy retrieves 4 bodies of illegal migrants, rescues 13
QAMISHLI, Syria, (North Press) – Libya’s navy announced on Tuesday the retrieve of four bodies of migrants and the rescue of 13 others off the Libyan coast.
In a statement, the Libyan navy said, “Boats of the Libyan Coast Guard retrieved four bodies of migrants including three women and a man and rescued 13 others near the beach of Mellitah on the western coast of Libya.”
Twelve of the rescued migrants were of Syrian nationals and one was Egyptian, according to Agence France Presse (AFP).
The statement added that three other migrants went missing.
“A boat carrying unidentified number of illegal migrants capsized on Tuesday off the coast of the town of Mellitah, 100 kilometers west Libya,” the statement read.
These incidents that cause drowns of migrants successively occur in the middle of the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast.
So far in 2022, a total of 6.340 illegal migrants were rescued and returned to Libya, including 510 women and 273 minors, 100 migrants died, and more than 400 went missing, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
In 2021, a total of 32,425 illegal migrants were rescued and returned to Libya, while 662 died and 891 others went missing, IOM said.
Libya is one of the most frequently used routes for irregular migrants who want to cross illegally to Europe.