Libya: 73 migrants dead, 159 missing, says IOM

381 migrants died, and 597 went missing on the Central Mediterranean route in 2020.

News Agency of Nigeria • March 16, 2021

TOPSHOT – Migrants wait to be rescued by the Aquarius rescue ship run by non-governmental organisations (NGO) “SOS Mediterranee” and “Medecins Sans Frontieres” (Doctors Without Borders) in the Mediterranean Sea, 30 nautic miles from the Libyan coast, on August 2, 2017. Italy on August 2, 2017 began enforcing a controversial code of conduct for charity boats rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean as new figures revealed a sharp drop in the numbers of people arriving from Libya. / AFP PHOTO / Angelos Tzortzinis (Photo credit should read ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP/Getty Images)

At least 4,129 illegal migrants have been rescued and returned to Libya so far in 2021, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Monday.

The rescued migrants included 293 women and 215 children, IOM said, adding that 73 migrants died and 159 others went missing on the Central Mediterranean route this year.

In 2020, 11,891 illegal migrants were rescued and returned to Libya, according to IOM’s estimates.

It added that 381 migrants died, and 597 went missing on the Central Mediterranean route in 2020.

Due to the country’s insecurity and chaos, following the fall of its leader, Mu’ammar Gaddafi, in 2011, thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly Africans, chose to cross the Mediterranean from Libya towards Europe.

Many illegal migrants were either rescued at sea or arrested by the authorities and detained inside Libya’s overcrowded reception centres.

This is despite repeated international calls to close the centres.

(NAN)