Mediterranean: 163 migrants die off the Libyan coast

“This is dramatic news.” Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), announced Tuesday, December 21 to InfoMigrants the death of 163 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. They were trying to reach Europe on makeshift boats.

The drama took place last week during two shipwrecks off the Libyan coast. The first occurred on Friday, December 17, when 102 people lost their lives at sea off Surman, west of the capital Tripoli. Eight exiles from the same boat survived the accident, said Flavio Di Giacomo.

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The next day, 61 bodies were found on a dinghy intercepted by the Libyan coast guard off Sabratha. On board the same boat, authorities recovered 210 people, including 35 women and 10 children.

“It cannot be said with certainty that among the dead or missing were women and children, but it is very likely that this is the case,” said the IOM spokesperson.

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On Sunday 19 and Monday 20 December, the Red Crescent found four corpses on the beaches of western Libya, according to the Migrant rescue watch Twitter account, close to the Libyan coast guard.

More than 1,500 dead since the start of the year

This new tragedy brings the death toll in the central Mediterranean to 1,508 since January 2021. Last year, 999 people died in this area, known to be the deadliest migratory route in the world.

In recent months, the number of departures from the Libyan coast has increased significantly. Since the ceasefire in Libya, signed in October 2020, the living conditions of migrants, already disastrous, have worsened further across the country. They are now facing an upsurge in violence and kidnappings by traffickers. So many factors that push the exiles to take all the risks to leave the country.

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Since the start of the year, 31,500 migrants have been intercepted at sea by the Libyan coast guard and returned to the country, up from 11,900 last year, according to IOM figures.

Once returned to Libya, migrants are transferred to detention centers where they risk torture, exploitation, sexual and physical violence.