TRIPOLI: Libya&#39;s Red Crescent said it took part in a major rescue operation after two boats carrying close to 100 irregular migrants capsized off the country&#39;s coast, leaving four dead.&nbsp;The four dead were among 26 Bangladeshis travelling aboard one vessel, the organisation said.&nbsp;The second boat was carrying 69 migrants, two of them Egyptian and the rest Sudanese, eight of whom were children, the Red Crescent said, reporting no deaths among them.&nbsp;The organisation said it had received an alert overnight Friday about two boats that had capsized in the Mediterranean. They had departed from the Libyan city of Khoms, 120 kilometres (75 miles) east of Tripoli.&nbsp;Photos published by the Red Crescent late on Saturday showed migrants receiving medical care, clothes and blankets in Khoms, as well as body bags containing the four dead.&nbsp;The Red Crescent said it had worked alongside the coast guard and port authorities&nbsp;Libya is a key transit country for thousands of migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea each year.&nbsp;Earlier this week, the International Organization for Migration said the sinking of another ship that sailed from Libya had left 42 missing, presumed dead.&nbsp;The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has recorded more than 1,700 people dead or missing this year on Mediterranean migration routes and off the coast of West Africa.&nbsp;According to Missing Migrants, an IOM project, around 33,000 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014.

Africa

Two migrant boats capsized off Libya, leaving four Bangladeshi passengers dead while 69 others survived. The incident highlights Libya’s role as a major migration route amid rising deaths, with over 1,700 missing this year and 33,000 since 2014.

Articles tagged with "libya"

Four dead in migrant shipwreck off Libya: Red Crescent

Four dead in migrant shipwreck off Libya: Red Crescent