At least 51 dead or missing after Libya migrant boat disaster

Ten people survived the shipwreck, which took place on June 12 in the Mediterranean Sea off eastern Libya, according to the Abreen group, which tracks migrant movements in eastern Libya, News.Az reports, citing India Today.

The group said 11 bodies had been recovered while 40 others remained missing. The incident is the latest tragedy on the central Mediterranean route, where migrants leaving North Africa are often put on small and unsafe boats by smugglers as they attempt the dangerous journey to Europe.

The Libyan coast guard and the Red Crescent in the eastern city of Tobruk said bodies had started washing ashore over the past 24 hours. The coast guard also posted footage showing rescue teams carrying bodies in white body bags onto the shore.

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 800 migrants were reported dead or missing on the central Mediterranean route between January 1 and May 16 this year. Last year, more than 1,300 migrants died or went missing on the same route, it said.

In recent years, Libya has become the main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East, even though the country has remained in turmoil since the NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that toppled and killed longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi. Human traffickers have taken advantage of the instability, moving migrants across Libya's long borders with six countries and sending them out on crowded, poorly equipped vessels, including rubber boats.

Migrants who are intercepted at sea and returned to Libya are held in government-run detention centres where abuses are widespread. UN-commissioned investigators have said these include forced labour, beatings, rape and torture, and amount to crimes against humanity. The latest shipwreck again underlines the risks faced by migrants on the central Mediterranean route.