This content was published on 02 October 2021 – 23:43
Tripoli, Oct 2 (EFE) .- At least two people died today off the coast of Libya when a boat with about 91 people on board wrecked, 89 of whom were rescued alive and transferred back to the coast despite “Not being a safe country,” reported the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
According to the source, around 40 more people who had also left the beaches of Libya in another inflatable boat are missing in the waters of the Central Mediterranean, considered the most dangerous migration route in the world.
UNHCR did not provide further details, so it is unknown if the boat corresponds to a warning given this Saturday by civil society organizations that monitor the flow of migrants in the Central Mediterranean, who warned of the disappearance of an inflatable boat with about 70 people on board who would have left the Libyan city of Khoms four days ago, bound for the Italian island of Lampedusa.
According to one of them, Alarm Phone, all contact with her was lost when she was in the maritime rescue zone (SAR) of Malta, just eleven miles from Italian territorial waters.
THE MOST DEADLY ROUTE IN THE WORLD
The central Mediterranean route, which starts from the Sahel and crosses the desert before opening to the sea from the beaches of Tunisia and Libya, is considered the deadliest in the world.
According to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 25,200 people have been intercepted in this area of the Mediterranean throughout this year, more than double that of last year, and returned to Libya despite being considered “a unsafe country “.
Another 455 have died and 660 more have disappeared in the same period, compared to 381 who died and 597 who disappeared in 2020.
Libya is a failed state, victim of chaos and civil war, since in 2011 NATO contributed militarily to the victory of the different rebel groups over the dictatorship of Muammar al-Gaddafi.
At present, the country continues to be divided into two political fronts, despite UN mediation efforts, and is prey to the militias, mercenaries and the various mafias, which have established a system of privateer economy connected with others through the North Africa and the Sahel. EFE
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