Libyan coast guard retrieved two dead bodies on Sunday off country’s western coast from a boat carrying more than 80 European-bound migrants.
Of the remaining people on the boat found by a coast guard patrol some 14 kilometres off the coast Garrabulli town, as many as 73 were rescued, including 8 children. The search for the missing people is underway, reports Xinhua.
In recent years, thousands of migrants have lost their lives after undertaking dangerous sea travel on overcrowded rubber boats in a bid to escape the turmoil in their own country.
According to a recent report by the United Nations, more than 90,000 people have been displaced in Libya since April 2018 as a result of the armed conflict between Khalifa Haftar’s army and UN-backed government forces in capital Tripoli.
The country has been largely divided into two factions ever since the death of its dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
The LNA-backed parliament controls the east of Libya, while the UN-backed interim Government of National Accord (GNA) governs Libya’s western region from Tripoli.
While the US government has primarily backed the GNA which is led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, American diplomats and military officers have maintained contacts with Russia backed Haftar.
Most of the international community has urged for a peaceful resolution to the intense fighting which has ensued in the African nation.