At least 60 refugees and migrants are feared dead following two shipwrecks off the coast of Libya, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The tragedies highlight the continuing dangers of the central Mediterranean route, often described as the world’s deadliest migration path.
In a statement on Wednesday, IOM Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Othman Belbeisi called on the international community to urgently boost search and rescue operations and ensure safe, coordinated disembarkation procedures.
The first incident took place on June 12 near the port of Alshab in Tripolitania. Only five survivors were found, and 21 people were reported missing. Among the presumed dead are six Eritreans — including three women and three children — five Pakistanis, four Egyptians, and two Sudanese men. The identities of four others remain unknown.
The second shipwreck occurred a day later, on June 13, around 35 kilometers west of Tobruk. According to the lone survivor rescued by fishermen, 39 individuals are missing.
IOM data shows that at least 743 people have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean so far this year, including 538 deaths on the central route linking North Africa to Italy — the most perilous known passage for migrants and refugees.
Critics argue that efforts by the European Union to curb irregular migration — including funding and equipping the Libyan coastguard — have worsened conditions for people on the move. The coastguard has been linked to militias accused of widespread human rights abuses.
With European states scaling back official search and rescue operations and tightening restrictions on NGO missions, many migrants remain stranded in Libya, often detained in what rights groups describe as inhumane conditions.
Libya continues to struggle with instability since the NATO-backed removal of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The resulting power vacuum has left space for traffickers and smugglers to exploit vulnerable populations, with reports of extortion, forced labor, and other abuses.
With input from Al Jazeera
