Tripoli: About 100 Sudanese refugees died or missing after two disasters of separate boats off the coast of Libya last weekend, and the toll is feared to get up, the United Nations agencies announced on Wednesday.
A boat capsized on Saturday and another caught fire on Sunday, both off the eastern port city of Tobruk, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The first boat was carrying 74 people, “mainly Sudanese refugees,” said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on his X account for Libya, of which “only 13 people have survived and dozens remain missing” on Saturday wreck.
An IOM spokesman said earlier AFP “The tragic incident of this Sunday took place when a rubber boat carrying 75 Sudanese refugees caught fire” on the way to Greece, adding: “at least 50 lives were lost”.
The UNHCR and the IOM spokesperson have not immediately provided details on the ages or sex of those on board boats.
“The IOM has provided immediate medical care saving the 24 survivors,” added the spokesperson, without clarifying if one last person was still lacking in Sunday wreck.
Libya is a key transit country for thousands of migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea each year.
At least 456 people died and 420 were missing along the central Mediterranean road between January 1 and September 13, depending on the IOM.
The Libyan authorities have so far intercepted and returned 17,402 migrants to Libya, including 1,516 women and 586 children.
The war in neighboring Sudan between the army and the paramilitaries has pushed more than 140,000 refugees in Libya in the past two years, almost doubling the number of Sudanese refugees in the country.
Many courageous almost slavery conditions in Libya have told migrants, while others try the dangerous crossing of the sea in order to reach Europe.
The IOM considers that the central Mediterranean crosses one of the deadliest migrant roads in the world.
In 2024, 2,573 people trying to reach Europe died in the Mediterranean Sea, he said.
Libya is still plagued by division and instability after years of trouble after the uprising supported by NATO which overthrew the longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
He remains divided between the government not recognized in the West and his eastern rival, supported by the military commander Khalifa Haftar.
Passers and traffickers of human beings took advantage of instability, leading to human rights violations, in particular extortion and slavery, according to groups of rights.
