http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKCN12R0P5?sp=true
More than 90 migrants believed missing after boat sinks off Libya -coastguard
Thu Oct 27, 2016
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - More than 90 migrants are believed missing after their boat sank off the coast of western Libya on Wednesday, a coastguard spokesman said.
Ayoub Qassem said coastguards had rescued 29 migrants some 26 miles off the shore east of Tripoli, and that survivors said 126 people had been on the rubber boat before one of the sides was ripped and it started taking on water.
Libya is the main departure point for mostly African migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. Smugglers arrange ill-equipped and overcrowded vessels that frequently break down or sink.
Qassem said the boat that sank on Wednesday had left at dawn from Garabulli, about 50km (31 miles) east of Tripoli.
"Because of overcrowding one of the sides of the boat got torn and water leaked in," he said. "Ninety-seven illegal migrants are still missing or they have drowned."
The rate of recorded deaths in the Mediterranean has risen sharply this year, with more than 3,740 migrants drowning on their way to Europe. That nearly matches the toll for the whole of 2015.
The route between Libya and Italy has become the busiest crossing point after a deal between Turkey and the European Union in March largely closed off pathways to Greece.
Smugglers in Libya act with impunity, taking advantage of a security vacuum that developed amid the political chaos following the country's 2011 uprising.
They often send migrants with just enough fuel to reach international waters and be picked up by international rescue vessels.
On Tuesday aid group Doctors Without Borders found 25 dead migrants submerged in water and fuel at the bottom of another rubber boat off Libya.
(Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by James Dalgleish)
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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/spokesman-90-migrants-believed-dead-off-libyan-shore-43098513
Libya's Navy Says 90 Migrants Perished After Boat Fell Apart
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CAIRO — Oct 27, 2016
The Libyan navy said on Thursday that at least 90 migrants are believed to have perished when their rickety boat started to fall apart in the Mediterranean Sea, after leaving the Libyan coast.
The boat, which was made of rubber, tore and began filling with water about 42 kilometers (26 miles) off the Libyan coast, an area considered to be international waters, said the spokesman for the navy, Ayoub Gassim.
The Libyan coast guard rescued 29 survivors, who recounted that there were 129 of them in all on the boat, mostly African nationals, Gassim said.
The migrants left Tajoura, in western Libya, before dawn on Wednesday morning, and the coast guard received a call for help around 3 p.m.
So far this year, the death toll for migrants in the Mediterranean has reached at least 3,800, making 2016 the deadliest year ever for migrants at sea. Migrants fleeing war and poverty increasingly take the dangerous journey from Libya to Italy on overcrowded boats, hoping to make their way to new lives in Europe.
In a separate incident, Doctors Without Borders said on Wednesday that its personnel recovered the bodies of 25 migrants aboard an overcrowded inflatable raft in the Mediterranean.
The bodies were discovered during the rescue of 246 people on two rafts, said the group, also known by its French acronym MSF.
MSF field coordinator Michele Telaro said the victims likely died of fuel inhalation, and that the potent mixture of petrol and water hampered the recovery efforts during the operation, which took place on Tuesday. Twenty-three survivors were treated for chemical burns.
Received on Thu Oct 27 2016 - 11:16:45 EDT