It was the newest in a sequence of comparable disasters in a stretch of the Mediterranean Sea which have claimed the lives of greater than a thousand folks thus far this 12 months.
Seven survivors have been rescued after six days adrift, the UN’s International Organization for Migration stated in a press release.
“According to survivors, some individuals were wearing life jackets while others held onto the overturned boat,” an IOM spokesman informed AFP.
The vessel, carrying 47 males and two ladies, left Zuwara, west of Tripoli, on November 3 earlier than excessive waves brought about the engine to fail round six hours later, the IOM stated.
The boat capsized, throwing all passengers overboard, the assertion added.
On Saturday, the Libyan authorities carried out a search and rescue operation close to the Al Buri oil subject.
“After drifting at sea for six days, only seven men — four from Sudan, two from Nigeria, and one from Cameroon — were rescued,” the IOM stated.
“Tragically, 42 individuals remain missing and are presumed dead, including 29 from Sudan, eight from Somalia, three from Cameroon, and two from Nigeria.”
IOM workers gave the survivors emergency medical care, meals and water as soon as they have been introduced ashore. They have been transferred to Tripoli.
“Their health condition is reported to be quite good, considering their ordeal, apart from skin irritations from salt water,” the IOM spokesman stated.
Death toll
More than 1,000 migrants have died this 12 months trying the primary central Mediterranean crossing between North Africa and southern Europe, in line with IOM figures.
“With this latest shipwreck, the total has risen even further, reinforcing the urgent need for strengthened regional cooperation, expanded safe and regular migration pathways, and more effective search and rescue operations to prevent further loss of life,” the IOM stated.
A European Commission spokesperson informed AFP: “These tragic events once again underline the need to intensify joint efforts with our partners, including Libya, to prevent such dangerous journeys and to combat the criminal networks of migrant smugglers that put lives at risk.”
UNHCR, the UN refugee company, estimates that over 1,700 folks have died or are lacking on the broader Mediterranean and West Africa migration routes within the Atlantic this 12 months.
In whole, round 33,000 migrants are thought of useless or lacking within the Mediterranean for the reason that begin of 2014, in line with the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project.
MSF relaunches rescue missions
The medical humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) stated Tuesday that it was relaunching its search and rescue actions within the central Mediterranean, having halted them in December 2024.
Its new vessel, Oyvon, was beforehand an ambulance ship in Norway.
“We have returned to carry out the duty of rescue for those who find themselves in distress at sea, forced to take unseaworthy boats, after having endured deplorable and inhumane conditions, detention, abuse and extortion in Libya,” stated Juan Matias Gil, MSF’s search and rescue consultant.
MSF stated the change to a smaller, sooner vessel was in response to what it referred to as Italy’s “restrictive” practices in direction of its earlier, bigger rescue vessel.
MSF stated the crew included a physician and a nurse capable of deal with folks for hypothermia, gas inhalation and gas burns in addition to wounds sustained within the “cycle of abuse and detention” in Libya.
