At least 130 Europe-bound migrants feared dead after shipwreck in the Mediterranean off Libyan coast

In recent years, the European Union has partnered with Libya’s coastguard and other local groups to stem such dangerous sea crossings

Rights groups, however, say those policies leave migrants at the mercy of armed groups or confined in squalid detention centers rife with abuses

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A rubber boat floats in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:54pm, 23 Apr 2021Updated: 7:01pm, 23 Apr 2021

At least 130 Europe-bound migrants are feared dead in a shipwreck off the Libyan Mediterranean coast, independent rescue groups said.

SOS Mediterranee, which operates the rescue vessel Ocean Viking, said late on Thursday that the wreck of a rubber boat, which was initially carrying around 130 people, was spotted in the Mediterranean Sea northeast of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The aid vessel did not find any survivors, but could see at least 10 bodies near the wreck, the group added in a statement.

“We are heartbroken. We think of the lives that have been lost and of the families who might never have certainty as to what happened to their loved ones,” the statement read.

In the years since the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that ousted and killed long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi, war-torn Libya has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. Smugglers often pack desperate families into ill-equipped rubber boats that stall and founder along the perilous Central Mediterranean route.

The European humanitarian organisation added that more than 350 people have drown in the sea so far this year, not counting the victims of this latest shipwreck.