UN says over 1,000 migrants drowned in Mediterranean in 2018

GENEVA — More than 200 migrants are reported to have drowned off Libya in two days, bringing to at least 1,000 the number to die this year on the main migratory route linking Africa and Europe, the UN said Thursday.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement it was “shocked” by the deaths and called for urgent action to reduce the continuing loss of life.

“UNHCR is dismayed by the ever-growing number of refugees and migrants losing their lives at sea and is calling for urgent international action to strengthen rescue at sea efforts by all relevant and capable actors, including NGOs and commercial vessels, throughout the Mediterranean.

“At the same time, access to protection in countries of first asylum should be ensured, as well as alternative pathways for refugees in Libya trying to cross the sea in search of protection and safety. All these steps are crucial to ensure that no more lives are lost at sea,” it said.

African migrants rescued from a ship off the coast of Zuwara, about 130 kilometers west of the Libyan capital Tripoli, walk alongside of bodies of others who died, at the dock in the capital’s naval base on June 18, 2018. (AFP Photo/Mahmud Turkia)

According to the UNHCR, around 220 migrants drowned on Tuesday and Wednesday in three separate tragedies.

On Tuesday, a wooden boat carrying an unknown number of refugees and migrants capsized off the coast of Libya.

Of the estimated 100 passengers, only five survived. They were rescued by the Libyan coastguard, UNHCR said on the basis of survivors’ testimony.

On the same day, a rubber dinghy with around 130 people on board sank at a different location off the Libyan coast.

Sixty survivors were rescued by local fishermen, who took them back to shore. Seventy people are believed to have drowned in the incident.

In the third incident on Wednesday, survivors reported that more than 50 people traveling with them perished before the Libyan coastguard mounted a rescue.