Boat sinks off Libya, kills 36 immigrants
Print Edition
AT least 36 immigrants died and 42 are missing after a makeshift boat was wrecked off Libya’s coast, a naval spokesman said yesterday.
Colonel Ayub Kassem said the accident occurred on Tuesday.
“The boat sank four kilometers off Garabulli,” which lies 50 kilometers east of Tripoli, he said.
“We were able to save 52 people of various nationalities. Thirty-six bodies have been recovered so far, 24 of them today (Sunday).”
A pregnant woman was among the dead, he added.
Kassem cited survivors as saying the boat had 130 people on board, including from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gambia, Mali and Senegal.
He said the hull of the boat had given way shortly after it left the beach because of the crush of people on board.
Othman Belbeisi, the chief of mission in Libya of the International Organization for Migration, yesterday called for “rapid solutions to preserve the lives of immigrants”.
On Saturday, Libya’s interim interior minister said Tripoli could “facilitate” people seeking to reach Europe illegally unless Brussels helps it combat the problem.
“I’m warning the world and Europe in particular — if they do not assume their responsibilities, Libya could facilitate the transit of this flood” of immigrants toward Europe, Salah Mazek said.
The government in a statement yesterday stressed Tripoli’s duty to combat illegal immigration and “continue collaborating with all countries concerned, Italy in particular, to limit the influx of immigrants”.
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