At least four Bangladeshi nationals have died after two boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers capsized off Libya’s coast, according to the Libyan Red Crescent.
The organisation said in a statement on Saturday that the incident occurred off the coastal city of al-Khums on Thursday night.
The first boat was carrying 26 people from Bangladesh, four of whom died. The second boat had 69 passengers, including two Egyptians and dozens of Sudanese, the Red Crescent added, without specifying the fate of the others. Eight of the passengers were children.
Al-Khums, located about 118 km (73 miles) east of the capital Tripoli, has seen numerous migrant incidents in recent years. Since the 2011 fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has become a major transit route for migrants and asylum seekers attempting to reach Europe.
Pictures released by the Libyan Red Crescent showed a line of bodies in black plastic bags laid out on the floor, while volunteers were seen providing first aid to survivors. Other images showed rescued migrants wrapped in thermal blankets, sitting on the floor.
The statement added that coastguards and Al-Khums Port Security Agency participated in the rescue operation. Adding that the bodies were handed over to the relevant authorities based on instructions by the city’s public prosecution.
On Wednesday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that at least 42 migrants went missing and were presumed dead after a rubber boat sank near the Al Buri oilfield, an offshore facility north-northwest of the Libyan coast.
In mid-October, a group of 61 bodies of migrants were recovered on the coast west of Tripoli. In September, IOM said at least 50 people had died after a vessel carrying 75 Sudanese refugees caught fire off Libya’s coast.
Several states, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway and Sierra Leone, urged Libya last week at a United Nations meeting in Geneva to close detention centres where rights groups say migrants and refugees have been tortured, abused and sometimes killed.
Source: Al Jazeera