Over 100 bodies of migrants washed ashore in western Libya

At least 104 bodies of migrants have washed ashore in Zuwarah, a town in western Libya, the Libyan army announced on Friday.

The bodies, which were mainly women and children, were of migrants who had tried to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean.

“Until Thursday night, we found 104 bodies of migrants but we expect the number will increase. Such a boat can carry between 115 and 125 passengers,” Colonel Ayoub Qassem, spokesman for the Libyan, navy told AFP on Friday. Col. Ayoub Qassem could not confirm whether the bodies of migrants found Thursday in Zuwarah were aboard one of the boats that sank last week.

“The migrants are usually African nationalities but there are also Arabs among them, including Moroccans,” the Colonel said criticizing the international community for just morning and giving numbers of victims without doing more, AFP reports.

The municipal council of the city where the bodies were found also criticised the Libyan government and international organisations on their Facebook page for being silent as the city “lacks assistance and resources to deal with the problem.”

About 700 migrants including forty children trying to reach Italy have died during the past week in three shipwrecks off the Libyan coast.

According to UNHCR figures as at May 25, 37,785 migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year through Libya as a result of the closure of the Balkans.

Over the same period, 1,370 migrants and refugees have lost their lives trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).