At least 61 refugees and asylum seekers, including women and children, have drowned following a “tragic” shipwreck off Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said yesterday, Saturday.
The Organization’s Libya office early on Sunday quoted survivors as saying the boat was carrying about 86 people.
The office said in a statement that a “large number of migrants” are believed to have died because of high waves, which swamped their vessel after it left from Zuwara, on Libya’s northwest coast.
Most of the victims were from Nigeria, The Gambia and other African countries, the IOM office said, adding that nearly 25 people were rescued and transferred to a Libyan detention centre.
