The Red Crescent of Libya removed 22 bodies next to coastal town of Zwara

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that the Libyan Red Crescent removed the bodies of 22 migrants next to the coastal town of Zwara on Sunday.

Indeed, the IOM’s chief of mission in Libya, Federico Soda, wrote in a Tweet, giving a photo of body bags lined up on a beach: Today, 22 bodies were retrieved by the Libyan Red Crescent in Zwara.

The IOM and the UN refugee agency reported on Wednesday that dozens of migrants and refugees have died near the coast of Libya in the bloodiest shipwreck this year.

The same agencies announced that Monday’s sinking survivors, 37 of them were saved by sailors, and said that at least 45 others, including five children, died when the engine of the ship they were on exploded near to Zuwara.

The IOM and the UNHCR reported that the latest tragedy, in the west of Tripoli, increases to 302 the number of migrants and refugees that they know to have died on the road this year, confirming that the actual number was probably much higher.

Spokeswoman for the IOM in Geneva, Safa Msehli, informed AFP on Sunday that it was possible that the 22 bodies were from that same sinking, given the reported location of the shipwreck, and she added: The bodies retrieved today were all African males. We still don’t have information on the nationalities.

Moreover, Libya that plunged into chaos after the revolution of 2011 which led to the overthrow of the dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and killed him, has appeared as a major transit point for African and Arab migrants fleeing from the war and the poverty to Europe.

According to the UN, the migrant leaving from the coast of Libya raised by nearly 300 percent this year between January and the end of April, in comparison to the same period in 2019.

Federico Soda said also: These painful deaths are the result of the increasingly hardening policy towards people fleeing conflict and extreme poverty, and a failure to humanely manage migration flows, and according to the IOM, more than 100,000 migrants tried to cross the Mediterranean last year while more than 1,200 died in their attempt.