The bodies of at least 15 migrants have washed up on the eastern Mediterranean coast of Libya. Among the dead is a young girl, according to security, navy and medical sources. The deaths are believed to have occurred after the boat carrying them sank. The information was given in a report on Saturday.
A navy source said about 61 people had been aboard the boat, according to 10 survivors. Which countries they were citizens of was not known, the news agency Reuters reported. The bodies were found along the coast at various places in the city of Tobruk, which is located near the Egyptian border. Two security officials said the bodies were in a decomposed state, and there were fears that more bodies could wash ashore.
In photographs posted on the social-media platform Facebook, volunteers of the Tobruk Red Crescent were seen in white protective suits recovering bodies from the rocky coast and placing them in white bags.
Since the fall of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed revolt in 2011, Libya has become a major transit route for migrants heading to Europe. People fleeing conflict and poverty try to reach Europe by the perilous route across the desert and the Mediterranean. The oil-dependent economy of Libya has also become an attractive destination for poor migrants seeking work. Meanwhile, the Emergency Medicine and Support Centre in the city of Khoms, which works under the health ministry in Tripoli, said 13 migrants had been treated after the boat sank off the coast.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report