Wednesday, June 8, 2016
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment