Tripoli: About 100 Sudanese refugees have died or are missing after two separate boat disasters on the coast of Libya last weekend, and the road tax fears to rise, UN agents said Wednesday.
One boat hijacked on Saturday and another fired on Sunday, both off the eastern port city of Tobruk, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The first boat was with 74 people, “mostly Sudanese refugees,” said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in his X account for Libya, of which “only 13 people survived and dozens remain missing” from Saturday’s wreck.
A spokesman for IOM told earlier AFP The Sunday’s “tragic incident took place when a inflatable boat bearing 75 Sudanese refugees fired up” on the way to Greece and added, “At least 50 lives were lost.”
The UNHCR and IOM spokesman did not immediately give details of ages or gender to those who are aboard the boats.
“IOM provided immediate life -saving medical treatment to the 24 survivors,” the spokesman added without clarifying if a last person was still missing from Sunday’s wreck.
Libya is an important transit country for thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe by sea every year.
At least 456 people died and 420 were reported missing along the central Mediterranean route between January 1 and September 13, according to IOM.
Libyan authorities have so far this year captured and returned 17,402 migrants to Libya, including 1,516 women and 586 children.
The war in neighboring Sudan between the army and the paramilitaries has pushed over 140,000 refugees into Libya for the past two years, which almost doubled the number of Sudanese refugees in the country.
Many brave near-slave conditions in Libya have migrants told AFP, while others try the dangerous sea transition in an attempt to reach Europe.
IOM considers the central Mediterranean that cross one of the deadliest migrant routes in the world.
By 2024, 2,573 people who tried to reach Europe died in the Mediterranean, it says.
Libya is still plagued by division and instability after years of turmoil following the NATO-backed uprising overturning long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
It remains divided between the non-recognized government in the West and its Eastern rival, supported by military commander Khalifa Hangar.
Smugglers and traffickers have benefited from instability, which has led to human rights violations, including extortion and slavery, according to rights groups.
