At least 60 people feared the dead after the shipwreck off the coast of Libya | Migration news

The United Nations Agency, OIM, says that 743 people have died so far this year trying to cross the Mediterranean in Europe.

At least 60 refugees and migrants are feared missing and drowned at sea after two shipwrecks off the coast of Libya, said the International Migration Organization (IOM), after trying the perilous franchise in Europe.

“With dozens fearing the dead and whole families in anxiety, the IOM again urges the international community to develop research and rescue operations and to guarantee a predictable and predictable disintegrality for survivors”, Othman Belbeisi, regional director of the Middle East and North Africa.

A shipwreck took place on June 12 near the port of Alshab in Tripolitania, said the United Nations agency. Only five survivors were found and 21 people were missing. Among the dreaded deaths are six Eritreans, including three women and three children, five Pakistani, four Egyptians and two Sudanese men. The identities of four others remain unknown.

The second incident occurred on June 13, about 35 km (22 miles) west of Libya Tobruk. According to the only survivor, which was rescued by fishermen, 39 people are missing.

At least 743 people have died so far this year, trying to cross the Mediterranean in Europe, including 538 on the central Mediterranean route, which remains the most deadly known migration path in the world.

In recent years, the European Union has increased its efforts to reduce these migrations, in particular by providing equipment and financial support to the Libyan coast guard, an almost military organization linked to the militias accused of abuse and other crimes.

NGOs say that screening for research and rescue operations managed by the state has made travel through the Mediterranean more dangerous. They also denounced what they consider a punitive action of states against charitable organizations operating in the Mediterranean.

Consequently, many people fleeing conflicts and persecution found themselves blocked in Libya, often held in detention under conditions that rights groups describe as inhuman.

Libya, which is still struggling to recover from the years of war and chaos after the reversal supported by NATO of 2011 of the long -standing sovereign Muammar Gaddafi, A been criticized For its treatment of refugees and migrants.

The accusations of the rights for the defense of rights range from extortion to slavery, while smugglers and traffickers of human beings also took advantage of the climate of instability in the country.