The International Migration Organization (IOM) announced on Friday that the Libyan Coast Guard intercepted about 500 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday evening and returned to Libya.
Ms Safa Masehli, communications officer at the IOM office in Libya, said in a tweet that more than 300 migrants left the evening on three inflatable boats and a wooden boat from the city of Zoura in western Libya in the hope of reaching Europe. Coast
A total of 308 people, including eight women and five children, were aboard these boats. More than a hundred were from Sudan, the same source added.
“All of them have been taken into custody,” an IOM spokesman said.
On Thursday, 187 migrants, who were on their way to Europe, had already been intercepted by the Libyan coast guard and brought back to Libya, according to an IOM communication.
Returning to Libyan soil, these people received emergency assistance before being taken to detention centers, an excellent process during the interception of migrants at sea by the Libyan Coast Guard.
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Despite the danger of crossings, migrants’ departures from the Libyan coast have increased in recent months.
In a report released on Wednesday, the United Nations called on Libya and the European Union to improve their search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea.
In 2020, at least 10,352 migrants were intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard and returned to Libya.
Since the beginning of the year, about 8,000 migrants have been intercepted at sea by the Libyan coast guard and returned to the country, the same source noted.
He said that today about 4,000 people are in detention centers in Libya, while thousands are missing.
The economic instability in Libya due to the health crisis, the silence of the fighting in Tripoli and the mild weather may explain the rise in the departure and dismissal efforts in Libya.
(With MAP)
