IN THE LIBYAN MIGRANT SHIPWRECK, NIGERIANS AND OTHER MIGRANTS FEARED DROWN.

Babatunji Wusui –

The latest tragic event in the North African region occurred on Saturday, when the International Organization for Migration (IOM) revealed that at least 61 migrants were missing and believed dead after their vessel sank off the coast of Libya.

The migrants are believed to have died when their boat was overturned by violent waves after they left Zuwara, which is on the northwest coast of Libya, according to the IOM’s statement to AFP.

Based on testimonies from survivors, the beleaguered ship carried about 86 migrants, including women and children from Nigeria, The Gambia, and other African countries.

The IOM stated that 25 people were successfully rescued and taken to a detention facility in Libya, highlighting their good health and the medical care that IOM staff members gave them.

Important departure sites for migrants making dangerous sea voyages in hopes of making it to Europe via Italy are Libya and Tunisia.

Over 153,000 migrants entered Italy this year from Tunisia and Libya, according to the UN refugee agency. This prompted Italy’s far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni to enact strict laws against illegal immigration, a pledge that helped her win election last year.

The office of Prime Minister Meloni has deliberately restricted the operations of relief vessels that are engaged in saving people who are undertaking the perilous journey across North Africa.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised Meloni’s strategy for handling illegal immigration during a visit to Rome on Saturday. Both leaders promised to step up efforts to combat human traffickers and stop migrant boats from arriving on the coasts of their respective nations.

The central Mediterranean migration route is considered the deadliest in the world by the UN, taking hundreds of people there every year.

IOM spokesperson Flavio Di Giacomo brought attention to the fact that over 2,250 migrants died this year while traveling along the central Mediterranean migrant route on the social networking platform X, highlighting the inadequate measures made to preserve lives at sea.

On June 14, a fishing boat carrying 750 migrants from Libya to Italy tragically sank in international waters off the coast of southwest Greece. Merely 104 people made it out alive, according to survivors, the most of whom were Egyptians, Pakistanis, and Syrians. Eighty-two remains were found.
The nearly ten years of violence in Libya following the overthrow and murder of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in an uprising supported by NATO have contributed to the growth of people traffickers who are accused of a variety of crimes, including extortion and enslavement.