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Libya’s coast guard on Tuesday, June 7 intercepted 117 migrants on a boat bound for Europe, including six pregnant women, before taking them back ashore, an official said.
The group had set out from a beach near Garabulli, a town about 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the east of Tripoli, said Colonel Ashraf al-Badri.
More than 10,000 people have died crossing the Mediterranean to Europe since 2014, the United Nations said on Tuesday, as the European Union unveiled fresh plans to stem the migrant flow from Africa.
Those intercepted on Tuesday were received by medics in Tripoli, before they were taken to accommodation in the centre of the Libyan capital.
“The 117 migrants, including six pregnant women, were intercepted off Garabulli and brought to a port in Tripoli by the coast guard’s speedboats,” Badri told AFP.
Badri did not disclose their nationality, but they are all of African origin. Following a rash of deadly shipwrecks in recent weeks which claimed the lives of hundreds of people, the UN refugee agency said the number of deaths at sea had risen sharply this year, with a record 2,814 people drowning since January.
Source: AFP
