At least four dead as migrant boats capsize off Libya's Al-Khums coast

Tripoli [Libya], November 16 (ANI): At least four people have been killed after two boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers capsized off Libya's coast, Al Jazeera reported, citing a statement from the Libyan Red Crescent.

According to the organisation, the incident occurred off the coastal city of al-Khums on Thursday night.

The first boat was carrying 26 people from Bangladesh, "four of whom died."

The second boat carried 69 people, including "two Egyptians and dozens of Sudanese," the Red Crescent said, without specifying their fate. It added that eight of those on board were children.

Al-Khums is located some 118km (73 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli.

Al Jazeera reported that volunteers provided first aid to survivors, and pictures released by the Red Crescent showed bodies in black plastic bags laid out on the floor, while rescued people were seen wrapped in thermal blankets.

The Libyan Red Crescent stated that coastguards and the Al-Khums Port Security Agency participated in the rescue operation, adding that the bodies were handed over to the relevant authorities "based on instructions by the city's public prosecution."

Libya has become a major transit route for migrants and asylum seekers fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe since the 2011 fall of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising, Al Jazeera reported.

On Wednesday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that at least "42 migrants went missing and were presumed dead" after a rubber boat sank near the Al Buri oilfield, an offshore facility north-northwest of the Libyan coast.

In mid-October, authorities recovered 61 bodies of migrants on the coast west of Tripoli.

In September, the IOM said at least "50 people had died" after a vessel carrying 75 Sudanese refugees caught fire off Libya's coast.

At a United Nations meeting in Geneva last week, several states, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway and Sierra Leone, urged Libya to close detention centres where rights groups say migrants and refugees have been "tortured, abused and sometimes killed." (ANI)

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