The Libyan Zuwara Naval Operations Force said Thursday that they saved 35 migrants in a rescue mission near the Tunisian border on Tuesday.
Libyan naval operations force rescues 35 migrants near Tunisian border
A group thought to be migrants from Tunisia aboard a precarious wooden boat waiting to be assisted by a team of the Spanish NGO Open Arms
-
Copyright © africanews
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The force released footage of the migrants on rescue boats and then receiving treatment on land.
The survivors included five women and a child, according to the Naval authority in the western town of Zuwara, which is under the control of the Tripoli-based government.
Libya has been a main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.
On Sunday, a boat carrying Sudanese refugees that caught fire and sank off Libya's coast left at least 50 dead, according to the International Organization for Migration.
According to the Missing Migrants Project run by the IOM, at least 434 migrants have been reported dead and 611 missing off Libya in the past eight months.