Libya: The bodies of 17 migrants were retrieved off the coast of the country

The corpses 17 immigrantshave been retrieved since yesterday on its west coast LibyaFollowing the sinking of a boat, it became known on Wednesday by the Libyan Coast Guard.

“In the last 24 hours, the bodies of 17 migrants have been retrieved on the shores between cities. Zaouia and Sorman “by Red Crescent teams,” a Coast Guard official told AFP.

People drowned post the overturning of the boat where they were aboard, according to the same source.

The local branch of the Red Crescent in Zaouia, a city 50 km from the capital Tripoli, published images from the process of collecting inanimate bodies:

Humanitarian crisis

The number of migrants who have died at sea trying to reach Europe has more than doubled this year compared to the corresponding period of 2020, announced in mid-July the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In September, the IOM estimated that 1.369 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year.

The latest tragedy comes a few days after a huge “security campaignBy the Libyan authorities on the outskirts of Tripoli, which targeted mainly illegal immigrants.

“The number of immigrants and refugees that are held in detention centers in Tripoli Increased “It has more than tripled in the last five days,” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said today.

This increase is “the immediate result of five days of mass and accidental arrests migrants and refugees, including women and children “, according to MSF, which has” at least 5,000 migrants and refugees detained “in Tripoli.

The raid also resulted in one dead and at least 15 injured, according to the UN mission in Libya (Manul), broadcasts AFP.

Several NGOs and United Nations agencies often denounce the miserable conditions prevailing in Libyan detention centers, where traffickers have benefited for the past ten years from the chaos that followed the 2011 uprising, making Libya a hub for human trafficking on the continent.

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