The International Organization for Migration (IOM) office in Libya announced on December 16 that at least 61 migrants were missing and presumed dead in a boat sinking off the coast of Libya.
The statement said 61 migrants were believed to have died in strong waves when their boat sank after "leaving the coastal city of Zuwarah, in north-west Libya, with 86 people on board".
The migrants, including children and women, were mainly citizens of Nigeria, Gambia and several other African countries, the statement added.
So far, 25 people have been rescued from the shipwreck and transferred to a detention center in Tariq Al Seka, near the capital Tripoli.
The IOM office in Libya has reached out and provided medical assistance to migrants in distress in this boat accident.
On social network X, Mr. Flavio Di Giacomo - IOM spokesman in the Mediterranean, said this was the 11th shipwreck in 2023.
More than 2,250 people have died in the central Mediterranean region so far.
Libya and Tunisia are the two main departure points in the central Mediterranean for migrants trying to reach Europe by illegally crossing onto the Italian coast.
According to the latest figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as of December 10, more than 153,000 migrants from Tunisia and Libya have arrived in Italy this year.
According to VNA