TRIPOLI, Libya
Libyan authorities have confirmed the discovery of scores of bodies of would-be migrants who appear to have drowned while trying to make the dangerous passage to Europe from the Libyan coast.
On Friday, local authorities found at least 80 dead bodies in the water off the coast of the western city of Zuwara, which presumably belonged to would-be migrants from Africa and Middle East.
The authorities are currently searching for additional bodies or survivors.
A Libyan Coast Guard official expressed the country’s grave concern about the growing number of casualties resulting from illegal attempts at migration.
In the first six months of this year alone, more than 2,350 would-be migrants and/or refugees have died off the coast of Libya en route to Europe.
For the same period last year, the figure stood at 2,081, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Despite these grim statistics, however, more than 255,000 migrants and refugees have successfully made the journey to Europe by sea so far this year, the IOM says.
Of these, nearly 100,000 came from war-torn Syria, more than 25,000 from Eritrea, and some 32,000 from violence-wrecked Afghanistan, according to IOM figures.
