UN says some 220 people drowned off Libya while attempting to reach Europe

GENEVA, (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, on Thursday said that some 220 people drowned off Libya in recent days while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe. UNHCR cited survivors as saying that a wooden boat carrying an unknown number of refugees and migrants capsized off the coast of Libya on June 19, and out of the estimated 100 passengers, only five survived. A number of bodies have been retrieved by rescuers or washed up on the beaches, UNHCR said. The same day, UNHCR added, a rubber dinghy with some 130 people on board sunk at a different location off the Libyan coast, 60 survivors were rescued by local fishermen and 70 people are believed to have drowned in this incident. On June 20, the Libyan Coast Guard conducted a rescue operation off Garabulli, 64 kilometers east of Tripoli and the survivors they found reported that over 50 people travelling with them had perished. UNHCR is dismayed by the ever-growing number of refugees and migrants losing their lives at sea and is calling for urgent international action to strengthen rescue at sea efforts by all relevant and capable actors, including NGOs and commercial vessels, throughout the Mediterranean, UNHCR said in a statement issued Thursday night. According to the UN refugee agency, these latest fatalities have pushed the death toll in the Central Mediterranean route to over 1,000 in 2018. As the summer season starts, it is expected that the number of refugees and migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean will increase. So far this year, the Libyan Coast Guard has reportedly disembarked more than 8,000 people at disembarkation points along the Libyan coast.

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UN says some 220 people drowned off Libya while attempting to reach Europe