The bodies of at least 15 migrants, including a young girl, have been washed ashore along Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast over the past week after their boat is believed to have capsized, security, navy, and medical sources reported to Reuters on Saturday.
Survivors and Recovery Efforts
The vessel was carrying approximately 61 people, according to 10 survivors, a navy source confirmed. The bodies were recovered from several locations along the coastline of Tobruk, a city near the Egyptian border, the sources added. Two security officials noted that the remains were badly decomposed and warned that more bodies could still be discovered.
Images posted on Facebook by the Tobruk Red Crescent showed volunteers in white hazmat suits recovering bodies from rocky shorelines and placing them into white plastic bags.
Libya's Role as a Migration Transit Hub
Since the toppling of Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, Libya has become a primary transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East, seeking to reach Europe via dangerous routes across the desert and the Mediterranean Sea. The oil-dependent Libyan economy also attracts impoverished migrants in search of work.
Separate Incident off Khumas Coast
In a separate incident, the Emergency Medicine and Support Center in Khumas city, which operates under the health ministry in the capital Tripoli, reported that its medics treated 13 migrants after their boat capsized off the coast.
