Migrants: between 90 and 100 people reported missing off Libyan coast

January 10, 2018

Credits: RFI

The Libyan navy announced on Tuesday, 9 January 2018 that, based on the story of survivors, between 90 and 100 migrants had disappeared in the Mediterranean following the sinking of their boat.

Between 90 and 100 migrants have disappeared in the Mediterranean after the sinking of their boat off the coast of Libya at the city of al-Khoms. It was an inflatable boat. Only 17 people, including women, were rescued, after spending hours clinging to pieces of the boat, as reported by General Ayoub Kacem, spokesman for the navy.

According to the Libyan navy, 267 other people of various African nationalities, including women again, but also 17 children had been rescued recently from the city of Zawiya, about fifty kilometers west of Tripoli. They were on two different boats. According to the spokesperson, the lack of resources and the bad weather complicated the relief operations.