(Reuters) – At least four people died when two boats carrying 95 illegal migrants capsized off the Libyan coastal town of Al Khums on Thursday, the Libyan Red Crescent said on Saturday.
The first boat was carrying 26 migrants from Bangladesh, four of whom died, the Red Crescent said in a statement on its verified Facebook page.
The second boat was carrying 69 migrants, including two Egyptians and dozens of Sudanese, the Red Crescent said, without specifying their fate.
Khums is a coastal town, about 118 km east of the capital Tripoli.
The International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday that at least 42 migrants were missing and presumed dead after a rubber dinghy sank near the Al Buri oil field, an offshore facility northwest of the Libyan coast.
Since the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 during a NATO-backed uprising, Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe via the Mediterranean.
Images released by the Khum Red Crescent showed a number of bodies in black plastic bags lying on the floor, while volunteers are seen giving first aid to survivors.
Other images show rescued migrants wrapped in thermoses sitting on the floor.
The statement added that the Coast Guard and Khums Port Security Agency were involved in the rescue operation. With the addition that the bodies were handed over to the relevant authorities based on the instructions of the city council.
In mid-October, a group of 61 bodies of migrants were found on the coast west of the capital Tripoli. In September, the IOM said at least 50 people died after a vessel carrying 75 Sudanese refugees caught fire off the Libyan coast.
Several nations, including Britain, Spain, Norway and Sierra Leone, urged Libya at a UN meeting in Geneva last week to close detention centers where human rights groups say migrants and refugees have been tortured, abused and sometimes killed.
(Reporting by Ahmed Elumami and Hani Amara; Writing by Hatem Maher and Ahmed Elumami Editing by Franklin Paul)
