IOM said it still does not have details about the nationality of the retrieved bodies.
Rabat – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that the Libyan Red Crescent retrieved the remains of 22 migrants and refugees off Libya’s coastal city of Zwara, 102 kilometers west of Tripoli.
IOM expects that the remains to be from a shipwreck that took place last week.
Last week IOM reported a wreck off Libya’s coast that caused the death of at least 45 refugees and migrants, including children.
IOM and UNHCR expressed “deep” sadness over the tragic death on August 17.
“Some 37 survivors – mainly from Senegal, Mali, Chad and Ghana – were rescued by local fishermen and later detained upon disembarkation. They reported to IOM staff that 45 others including five children lost their lives when the vessel’s engine exploded off the coast of Zwara,” UNHCR said.
The incident, according to IOM, is the worst shipwreck of migrants reported this year off Libya’s coast.
The UNHCR and IOM also expressed “deep concerns” due to the delays in rescue and disembarkation.
“We urge states to swiftly respond to these incidents and systematically provide a predictable port of safety to people rescued at sea. Delays recorded in recent months, and failure to assist, are unacceptable and put lives at avoidable risk.”
The spokesperson for the IOM in Geneva, Safa Msehli, explained in a statement on Sunday to the AFP that the 22 bodies might be from the same incident.
She said that the bodies were all African males, but no details of their nationalities are available yet.
Over 300 people have died trying to cross from Libya to Europe this year.
Libya is one of the destinations that migrants, including Moroccans, traverse to reach Europe.
In recent years, hundreds of migrants from Morocco found themselves stranded in Libya while attempting to cross the country’s coast to Italy.
The stranded Moroccans shared videos from detention centers, calling on King Mohammed VI to intervene.
Morocco’s government launched a series of repatriation trips to bring back undocumented Moroccan migrants trapped in Libya.
In addition to Moroccans, a massive number of other African migrants have also found themselves trapped in detention centers across Libya in recent years.
