Over 70 dead, hundreds rescued after packed migrant boat sinks off Libya's coast
At least 76 people have died after a ship carrying hundreds of people sank off the coast of Libya, a spokesman for the Libyan Red Crescent said today, in the latest disaster involving desperate migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia trying to reach Europe.
“[As of] now, 76 bodies have been retrieved from the sea and 198 people have been rescued” from the boat which sank on Thursday near the western port of Zuwara, Mohammad al-Misrati said.
A photographer at the scene saw workers removing bodies from the water, and pulling a flooded boat into the harbour that contained several drowned victims floating face down. At least one victim, a man, was wearing a life vest. They were put into body bags and lined up on the waterfront.
A security official in the western Libyan town of Zuwara, from where the doomed boat had set off, said there had been around 400 people on board. Many appeared to have been trapped in the hold when it capsized on Thursday.
Some 147 people rescued were brought to a detention facility for illegal migrants in Sabratha, west of Tripoli. They were from sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan, Syria, Morocco and Bangladesh.
The disaster was just the latest in a series of ships sinking in the region. The Italian coast guard said 1,430 people had been rescued in various operations off Libya, and a merchant ship sent to the aid of a small boat carrying 125 people recovered two bodies.
The Libyan coast guard has limited capabilities, relying on small inflatables, tug boats and fishing vessels.
Zuwara, near the Tunisian border, is a major launch pad for smugglers shipping migrants to Italy.
Dozens of boats are launched from lawless Libya each week, with Italy and Greece bearing the brunt of the surge.
Since a 2011 Libyan civil war that ended with the overthrow and killing of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi, the oil-rich north African country has plunged into chaos.
It is divided between an elected parliament and government based in the eastern port city of Tobruk and an Islamist militia-backed government in the capital Tripoli – with militants from the Islamic State group also exploiting the chaos.
Meanwhile, in Austria, police reported the grisly discovery of some 70 bodies – including children – inside an abandoned truck near the border with Hungary.
More than 2,300 people have died this year trying to reach Europe by boat, compared with 3,279 during the whole of last year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
READ MORE: Migrants, including children, found dead inside abandoned lorry in Austria
On land, a wave of refugees and migrants has swept north through the Balkans in recent days, with thousands of Syrians, Afghans and Pakistanis crossing from Serbia into EU-member Hungary, where authorities said more than 140,000 had been caught entering the country so far this year.
Almost all hope to reach the more affluent countries of northern and western Europe such as Germany and Sweden.
Hungary, which is part of Europe’s Schengen passport-free travel zone, is building a high fence along its border with Serbia to confront what it says is a threat to European security, prosperity and identity.
