100 missing in shipwreck off Libyan coast

Libya has emerged as a major transit point to Europe for those fleeing poverty and civil war elsewhere in Africa.

TRIPOLI - The lifeless bodies of three babies were brought ashore in Libya on Friday, victims of a Mediterranean migrant shipwreck in which survivors say 100 people are still missing.

Around 120 migrants were aboard the inflatable craft when it ran into trouble, according to survivors taken to Al-Hmidiya, east of the capital Tripoli.

Sixteen people were rescued, while the missing included two babies and three children under the age of 12.

Survivors said the boat sank a few hours after its pre-dawn departure from Garaboulli, east of Tripoli, following an explosion on board.

The motor then caught fire and the vessel began taking on water, they said.

The passengers included several Moroccan families, none of whom survived.

"When I saw the number of people on the boat, I refused to get on board, because we had been told that we would be 20 (passengers)," said survivor Amri Swileh, from Yemen.

Showing his bruised arms, the 26-year-old said he was threatened by smugglers and forced onto the boat.

"I lost all of my Yemeni friends who were with me. All five of them are missing," he said.

While there were up to 15 women on board, the 16 rescued passengers were all young men from countries including Gambia, Zambia and Sudan.

'Horrible to see'

The only bodies recovered were those of the three babies, while the rest of the dead were left at the scene "for lack of resources", a Libyan coastguard employee said.

Salem al-Qadhi, a coastguard captain, said he was shocked when he reached the site of the incident.

"It was horrible to see," he said.

Fishermen had spotted the migrant vessel in difficulty and contacted the Libyan coastguard.

The Libyan branch of the United Nation's migration agency said it was supporting the 16 "traumatised" survivors, noting that there had been further rescue operations off the coast.

An additional 345 migrants had been brought ashore in Tripoli and were receiving humanitarian assistance, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) wrote on Twitter.

Libya's coastguard has been involved in the rescue of hundreds of migrants in recent days.

On June 18, five bodies were recovered and more than 100 people were saved after they were shipwrecked off the Libyan coast.

Nearly 1,000 migrants were rescued on June 24 from multiple inflatable boats which had run into trouble during perilous bids to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

EU deal

The latest shipwreck came after European Union leaders reached a deal aimed at sharing the responsibility for hosting migrants more fairly across the bloc.

The pact reached overnight includes a proposal to set up "disembarkation platforms" outside the EU as a way to reduce the number of people taking the perilous sea journey.

The UN’s migration and refugee agencies praised the agreement while cautioning that details need to be specified and pointing out that the involvement of the African Union is “indispensable.”

Leonard Doyle, spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, said it was “very pleased at the solidarity and consensus” that emerged from an EU summit in Brussels, in particular with the “front line states” like Italy.

Doyle said he believed that most of the “disembarkation centers” planned by the EU would be in Europe, though he said it was up to the EU to determine which countries would host them.

Charlie Yaxley, a spokesman for refugee agency UNHCR, said it was “still awaiting the legal analysis” of the summit’s outcome, but would welcome greater collaboration on asylum.

He noted that recently, for the fifth year in a row, the “grim milestone” of 1,000 migrant deaths in the Mediterranean was crossed.

No foreign presence

The forces of Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, however, rejected the possibility of any foreign military presence in the south of the country to stem migration.

Haftar heads the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) and supports a parallel government in eastern Libya that challenges the authority of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital Tripoli.

The LNA said any attempt by "foreign parties to deploy a military presence in some areas of southern Libya on the pretext of stemming illegal migrations" is rejected.

"The army's general command warns these foreign parties that any such (military) deployment would be considered a flagrant violation of international law and a heinous aggression against Libyan sovereignty," a statement said.

It added that the LNA would take "all the necessary measures to protect Libya and its borders", without elaborating.

On Monday, GNA Vice President Ahmed Maiteeq said that the UN-backed government "categorically refuses" the installation of migrant centres in Libya.

Maiteeq made the remarks during a visit to Tripoli by Italy's new far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.

During the visit Salvini had called for processing centres to be set up "south of Libya, on the external border of Libya" as a way to block attempts by migrants to head for Europe and "to help Libya as well".

Haftar's forces control much of eastern Libya and some regions in the country's south.