TRIPOLI, April 4 (NNN-XINHUA) — The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday that 344 migrants were rescued and returned to Libya in the past week.
The migrants, including 24 women and 10 children, were saved between March 26 and April 1, IOM said in a statement.
So far this year, 4,241 illegal migrants have been rescued and sent back to Libya, while 269 died and 172 others went missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean route, the organization said.
In 2022, a total of 24,684 migrants were rescued and returned to Libya, the IOM revealed, adding 525 migrants died and 848 others went missing off the Libyan coast.
Since the fall of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, a large number of migrants, most of whom Africans, attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea and reach European shores from Libya.
Rescued migrants usually ended up inside overcrowded reception centers in Libya, despite repeated international calls to close those centers and release the migrants. — NNN-XINHUA
