TRIPOLI: Libya’s coastguard has rescued 89 sub-Saharan African migrants who had been drifting in a boat for five days and had to dump the bodies of five people who died on the journey overboard, the state news agency said yesterday.
The Libyan authorities were alerted by a fisherman that the boat was adrift off the western port of Zawiyah, naval official Colonel Ayub Omar Gacem was quoted as saying by the Libyan news agency LANA.
“Many of them were taken to hospital when they were brought to shore, the rest were provided with food and medicine on the spot,” Ayoub was quoted as saying.
The migrants told their rescuers that five people had died and they had disposed of their bodies at sea.
North Africa is a launchpoint for maritime migration to southern Europe, with Italy the main destination. Thousands of people have been killed attempting the dangerous crossing in overcrowded and frequently unsafe vessels.
Ayoub said this was the second such incident in two weeks after Libya’s coastguard saved another 34 people, including women and children, off the west coast. AFP
