A new tragedy has struck the Mediterranean coast of Libya, as authorities recovered the bodies of 61 migrants over the past two days. The country’s Emergency Medicine and Support Center, under the Ministry of Health, confirmed the incident in an official statement on Saturday.
According to the statement, three bodies were found near Mellitah, west of Tripoli, and twelve more were recovered off the coast of Zuwara on Friday. The following day, 46 additional bodies were discovered along the shores of Zuwara, Abu Kammash, and Mellitah.
Local media reported that the victims are believed to be passengers of a motorboat that departed from Libya’s coast toward Italy in mid-September. The vessel, carrying at least **75 migrants—mostly Sudanese nationals—**caught fire shortly after setting sail and subsequently went missing. Authorities suspect that most of the bodies recovered belong to those missing passengers.
The Emergency Medicine and Support Center stated that some of the bodies have already been buried, while others remain in morgues awaiting autopsy.
Libya has long been one of the main transit routes for migrants attempting to reach Europe by sea. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), approximately 895,000 migrants from 45 countries are currently living in various Libyan cities.
Most of them, undocumented and desperate, share the same dream — to cross the Mediterranean in search of a new life in Europe.
Sources: Reuters, Arab News