TRIPOLI: Sixty-three migrants are missing after the inflatable boat they were on sunk off the coast of Libya, a spokesman for the country’s navy told AFP, citing eyewitness accounts from survivors.
General Ayoub Kacem said that 41 migrants wearing life jackets were rescued. According to the survivors, there were 104 people on board the vessel, which sank off Garaboulli, east of Tripoli.
In addition to the 41 people rescued, a Libyan coast guard boat returned to Tripoli Monday with another 235 migrants, including 54 infants and 29 women, rescued in two other operations in the same area.
The boat’s return to shore was delayed 24 hours due to a breakdown, Kacem said.
Including the latest shipwreck, some 170 migrants have gone missing in the Mediterranean between Friday and Sunday.
On Friday, three babies died off the coast of Libya while 100 people remained missing in another Mediterranean shipwreck.
Just 16 were rescued, all young men, while the missing included two babies and three children under the age of 12.
Libya is a key transit point for thousands of African migrants trying to reach European shores.
Hundreds of migrants die every year crossing the Mediterranean in dangerous conditions trying to reach Italy, taking advantage of political instability in the north African country to depart from Libyan shores.
Libyan navy says 63 missing in new Mediterranean shipwreck
Libyan navy says 63 missing in new Mediterranean shipwreck
- In addition to the 41 people rescued, a Libyan coast guard boat returned to Tripoli Monday with another 235 migrants, including 54 infants and 29 women, rescued in two other operations in the same area
- Libya is a key transit point for thousands of African migrants trying to reach European shores
Qatar and UAE continue to fend off aerial threats from Iran say officials
Qatar has said its military thwarted attacks on Hamad International Airport, the Gulf state’s foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday, as Iran pressed a retaliatory campaign across the Gulf.
“There were attempts to attack Hamad International Airport, they were all thwarted... the missiles were downed by our defensive measures, and none of them have reached the airport,” Majed Al-Ansari told a press conference, adding that Qatar had not been in contact with Iran since the start of the strikes.
Al-Ansari said on Tuesday that there was no ongoing communication with Iran.
The spokesperson also said Iranian targets were not limited to military sites, but included all Qatari territory.
In a separate press conference the United Arab Emirates said it has strategic reserves of air defence systems capable of countering aerial threats for a prolonged period, a defence ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday, as the US-Israel war against Iran escalates.
The spokesperson added that the UAE will not accept any infringement on its sovereignty or the safety of its territory.
The UAE state minister for international cooperation added that the UAE was not looking to expand the war.
“We do not seek an expansion of this conflict and do not believe that military solutions lead to stable outcomes,” she said.
(With agencies)
