Nearly 60 migrants seeking to reach Europe, including women and children, drowned on Monday in a shipwreck off Libya. In the Channel, the patrols of the French Navy have brought aid in recent days to more than 160 migrants.
“At least 57 migrants drowned in a shipwreck off Khoms today,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. The city of Khoms is located 120 kilometers from the capital Tripoli on the west coast of Libya, a North African country plunged into chaos since 2011.
20 women and two children among the victims
“Survivors who spoke to our staff said 20 women and two children were among those who lost their lives,” IOM added on its Twitter account, pointing to “another migratory tragedy” on this route, “dangerous.”
IOM does not specify the nationalities of the migrants, but images released by the organization show aid workers distributing water and food parcels to visibly exhausted survivors, all of whom appear to be from countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Eighty-eight migrants were “rescued” off Boulogne-sur-Mer, in northern France, as they tried to reach England on board three separate boats, said the maritime prefecture.
The regional surveillance and rescue center (Cross) was first notified that a boat was “in difficulty” off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
A patroller from the Navy then recovered 11 castaways, including two women, and dropped them off at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer where they were taken care of by the border police, the maritime prefecture said in a statement.
On Sunday, eighty migrants, including twenty children, were spotted in the same sector and brought back to French territory.
