Dozens of bodies recovered after refugee boats capsize off Libya

Libya’s coast guard recovered dozens of bodies of Europe-bound refugees who perished at sea as search operations continued on Friday, a day after up to 150 people, including women and children, went missing and were feared drowned after their boats capsized in the Mediterranean Sea.

A top UN official described Thursday’s shipwreck as “the worst Mediterranean tragedy” so far this year.

Also on Friday, Libyan authorities transferred dozens of people rescued from the disaster to a detention centre near Tripoli that was hit by an airstrike earlier this month despite UN objections to such a move, the UN refugee agency said.

The Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency in the capital, Tripoli, said that up to 350 people were on board the boats that capsized on Thursday off the coast of the Libyan town of Khoms, around 75 miles east of Tripoli.

Those dead include nationals from Eritrea, Egypt, Sudan and Libya, the agency said.

Libyan officials said more than 130 people have been rescued since Thursday.

At least a dozen were taken to a hospital in Khoms while the rest were transferred to different detention centres, including Tajoura, located near the front lines of the fighting between rival Libyan factions.

Tajoura was hit by an airstrike on July 3 that killed more than 50 people and raised new concerns over the treatment of migrants in Libya.

Charlie Yaxley, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency, on Thursday objected to transfers of rescued refugees and migrants to Tajoura, saying, “this has to stop” and that the detention centre should be closed.

“Our joint-call to close Tajoura detention centre does not seem to be heard. This is putting intentionally the life of these people at risk,” Vincent Cochetel, the refugee agency’s special envoy for the Central Mediterranean tweeted on Friday.

After the Nato-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya became a major conduit for African refugees and migrants seeking safety in Europe.

Traffickers and armed groups have exploited Libya’s chaos since his overthrow, and have been implicated in widespread abuses of thousands of people, including torture and abduction for ransom.

Thursday’s shipwreck was “the worst Mediterranean tragedy” so far this year, said UN high commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

In January, some 117 died or went missing off Libya’s coast and around 65 people drowned after their boat sank off the coast of Tunisia in May.

At least 2,500 people have been detained in centres in and around Tripoli, where forces loyal to commander Khalifa Hifter are battling an array of militias loosely aligned with a UN-recognised government.

Hifter’s offensive, an attempt to seize Tripoli, started in April and has killed more than 1,000 people, mainly combatants but also civilians, the US said earlier this month.

The Tripoli-based government has blamed the Tajoura airstrike on Hifter’s forces, which have denied responsibility and accuse government-linked militias of storing weapons at the facility.

The UN refugee agency says 164 people died travelling from Libya to Europe since the start of the year, fewer than in previous years.

But the agency says the journey is becoming more dangerous for those who attempt it, with one out of four perishing at sea before reaching Europe.

The UN’s death toll of 154 did not include those reported missing at sea on Thursday.