More than 160 migrants drowned in two separate incidents off the Libyan coast last week in the latest migrant disaster in the Mediterranean, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.
At least 102 migrants died after their wooden boat capsized off the coast of Libya on Friday, said the spokeswoman for the IOM, Safa Meshali, who added that the Libyan authorities managed to bring back around eight survivors to shore.
According to the IOM spokeswoman, the Libyan Coast Guard recovered at least 62 bodies in another shipwreck, three days after that accident, while another boat carrying around 210 migrants was intercepted and returned to Libya.
With these new fatalities, the death toll of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean increased to 1,500 this year.
The UN organization said that about 980 migrants died or were presumed to have died in 2020, while 31,500 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya in 2021, compared to 11,900 migrants the previous year.
