Khums, Libya
Reuters
The bodies of more than a dozen migrants who drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe washed up on Libya’s coastline late on Saturday, its interior ministry and the local Red Crescent said.
Libya is a major transit point for migrants, many from African countries, who are seeking better opportunities in Europe.
Mohamed Abushaala, the head of the Red Crescent in Khums, a port in western Libya, said 15 bodies including that of an infant had been recovered from the shore at nearby Alous on Saturday. He said three survivors had said there were 35 people in total on their boat, which had sunk.
He said a separate figure released on social media of 17 bodies, along with another 10 found on a different beach, was incorrect.
“They were at sea for approximately one day,” said Osama al-Saket, head of the Khums hospital that received the bodies following calls from the International Organization for Migration and police authorities.
“The bodies were still intact…there were 14 of them, along with one small baby,” added al-Saket.
The Interior Ministry later said 14 bodies had been recovered from a group of 60 people believed missing at sea.
It was not clear from the statements if they were all referring to the same group and interior ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.
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Larger numbers of people have been trying to cross the Mediterranean this year after several years of reduced numbers since 2015. About 1,500 have drowned in 2021, the United Nations migration agency IOM said last week.
The agency’s Missing Migrants Project has designated the Central Mediterranean route as the deadliest known migration route in the world, with more than 17,000 recorded deaths and disappearances since 2014.
Photographs released by the Khums Red Crescent showed a line of bodies laid out along a beach as workers put them into bags.
Meanwhile, at least 16 bodies of Iraqi Kurdish migrants who drowned in November when their dinghy deflated while they tried to cross the English Channel were returned on Sunday to Iraqi Kurdistan.
The 24th November disaster, in which 27 migrants died, was the worst on record involving migrants trying to cross the Channel to Britain from France.
The plane carrying the bodies landed on early Sunday in the airport of Erbil, capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region. Ambulances then took the coffins to the home towns of those who died.
“The last time I heard my son’s voice was when he got on board the boat. He said ‘Don’t worry Mum, I will reach England shortly.’ Now he’s back to me in a coffin,” said Shukriya Bakir, whose son was one of those who drowned.
In the past decade, hundreds of thousands of people have slipped into the wealthy economies of Western Europe with the help of smugglers, fleeing conflict, persecution and poverty on epic journeys from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan and elsewhere. Few are welcomed.
Iraq is no longer at war since the defeat of Islamic State in 2017. But a lack of opportunities and basic services, as well as a political system most Iraqis say is corrupt and nepotistic, mean many people see little chance of a decent life at home.
– With ALI SULTAN, Sulaimanya, Iraq.
