For UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi, "the worst tragedy in the Mediterranean this year has just happened". More than 100 migrants are missing after the sinking of their boat off Libya Thursday, a UN agency and the Libyan navy said, reporting about 100 survivors.
"The sinking took place off the Libyan town of Khoms", 120 km east of the Libyan capital Tripoli, said Safa Msehli, communications officer at the office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Libya.
145 migrants rescued
According to her, 145 migrants were rescued by the Libyan coast guards and brought back to Khoms. Some survivors said that their boat sank and that there were still some 150 migrants on board, Msehli added.
But according to General Ayoub Kacem, spokesman for the Libyan navy, "134 migrants were rescued and a body recovered, while 115 migrants are missing." "A wooden boat carrying about 250 illegal migrants, including women and children, (...) was wrecked within 5 nautical miles of the coast according to the testimonies of rescued migrants," said General Kacem.
426 dead since the beginning of the year
Before the sinking announced on Thursday, UNHCR and IOM had reported at least 426 people dead trying to cross the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year. Despite persistent insecurity, Libya remains an important transit point for migrants fleeing conflict and instability in other parts of Africa and the Middle East who are seeking to work in Libya or to reach Europe in looking for a better future.