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File image of a patrol boat with migrants in Italy. SIPA USA/PA Images

Bodies of 28 migrants found on Libyan coast

Libya has become a key departure point for people from Africa and Asia attempting to migrate to Europe.

THE BODIES OF 28 people have washed up on Libya’s western coast after a migrant boat sunk, a security official has said, in the latest tragedy on the world’s deadliest migration route.

“Libyan Red Crescent teams recovered 28 bodies of dead migrants and found three survivors at two different sites on the beaches of Al-Alous,” some 90 kilometres from Libya’s capital of Tripoli, the source said.

“The bodies’ advanced state of decomposition indicates that the shipwreck happened several days ago,” he said, adding the toll could rise in the coming hours.

Libya, wracked by a decade of conflict and lawlessness, has become a key departure point for people from Africa and Asia attempting to migrate to Europe.

Migrants often endure horrific conditions in Libya before embarking northwards on overcrowded, often unseaworthy vessels that frequently sink or get into trouble.

The latest tragedy comes just days after 160 migrants died within a week in similar incidents, bringing the total number of lives lost this year to 1,500, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The IOM says more than 30,000 migrants have been intercepted in the same period and returned to Libya.

The European Union has cooperated closely with the Libyan Coast Guard to cut numbers of migrants arriving on European shores.

On their return, many face poor treatment in detention centres.

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    Mute Fergus Quinlan
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    Dec 26th 2021, 6:40 PM

    And we all cheered when CL Gadaffi was murdered by western imperialism…..

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    Mute James Rowan
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    Dec 26th 2021, 8:00 PM

    @Fergus Quinlan: not me and what he said is comming true,if gou take me out or over throw me europe will be b lack in 25 years

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    Mute james s
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    Dec 27th 2021, 2:44 AM

    @Fergus Quinlan: That wasn’t western imperialism, that was Obama and Clinton

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    Mute Peter O'Muiri
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    Dec 27th 2021, 2:56 PM

    It is inaccurate to imply that these migrants are fleeing the situation in Libya. They are economic migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa who pay people-smugglers to take them to Libya with the purpose of travelling onward to Europe. Since the EU has been returning migrants intercepted at sea to Libya to have their applications for asylum processed the numbers having themselves smuggled to Libya and the numbers drowning at sea have both fallen. However, more needs to be done to improve conditions and security in the migrant centres in Libya – even though it can be argued that these migrants can hardly complain about conditions in a country they themselves chose to travel to because its fragmented situation means there has no border-security to stop them entering the country.
    BTW, the intervention that overthrew the Libyan dictator was motivated by the threat by Ghadaffi to massacre to rebel forces that were already trying to overthrow him. It is dishonest to suggest that had the intervention not taken place the situation in Libya would now be better. It would likely be no different.

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