Libya has emerged as a major transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East, hoping for a better life in Europe.
The Libyan coast guard on Sunday intercepted a wooden boat carrying some 500 European-bound migrants off the country’s coast, the UN refugee agency said.
It marks the latest sea disruption in recent months amid an increase in crossings and attempted crossings from the North African nation to European shores.
read also: Libyan migrant roundup reaches 4,000 amid huge crackdown
It comes two days after a massive crackdown on migrants in a city in western Libya, resulting in a round of at least 4,000 migrants.
Libya has emerged as a major transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East, hoping for a better life in Europe.
The trend developed after the country plunged into chaos following the 2011 NATO-backed insurgency, which led to prolonged evictions and deaths. dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Human traffickers have benefited from the chaos in the oil-rich nation and smuggled migrants through the country’s long border with six countries. Then they pack desperate migrants into sickly rubber boats on risky voyages through the dangerous central Mediterranean route.
Sunday’s interception landed migrants at an oil refinery point in the western city of Zawia, a major launching point for migrants, according to UN refugee agency UNHCR. These include Sudanese, Somalians, Bengalis and Syrians.
The migrants were probably taken to a detention center as Libyan authorities usually do with intercepted migrants.
On Saturday, the Libyan coast guard intercepted about 90 migrants, including eight women and three children, and returned them to Tripoli, the UN agency said. The Coast Guard has also recovered the bodies of two migrants, while 40 others are missing, the agency said.
There has been an increase in Mediterranean crossings and attempted crossings with the goal of reaching European soil. So far this year, some 44,000 people have crossed the Central Mediterranean from Tunisia and Libya to the shores of Europe.
According to the United Nations Migration Agency, as of 25 September, more than 25,000 people had been intercepted by the EU-trained and equipped Libyan Coast Guard and returned to the war-torn country.
More than 1,100 migrants are reported to be dead or presumed dead in Libya in the first nine months of 2021.
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