TRIPOLI, Oct 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A boat with more than 50 people on board has capsized off the Libyan coast, the United Nations said, the latest accident involving migrants trying to reach Europe.
The exact location of the accident remains unclear, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Twitter. A spokesman for Libya’s coastguard said a patrol boat had been dispatched, without providing any further information.
Ayoub Gassim, a spokesperson for the coast guard, confirmed that the incident had taken place off the western city of Misrata. At the time he stated he was unable to provide further details but confirmed that rescuers were on their way.
Alarm Phone, an independent support group for people crossing the Mediterranean Sea, said there were “about 56 lives at risk” after receiving calls from the migrants on board. The organization stated “they are desperately calling for help and are afraid to die.”
The migrants were taking the route from Libya to Europe, escaping war and economic insecurity. Libya is currently locked in an ongoing civil war and as such has become a hub for people from all over Africa who are hoping to reach Europe.
However, without official and affordable routes available for the migrants they are forced to pay people smugglers large amounts of money to travel on overcrowded and unregulated boats across the sea.
Reaching Europe does not ensure safety or security as European nations instigate harsher policies against those arriving from the African continent.
Italy’s former hard-line Interior Minister Matteo Salvini earlier this year blocked rescue ships carrying migrants from docking at its ports, yet a change of government has renewed hopes of a softer approach to the migrant issue.
European nations also halted official rescue missions for refugees, replacing them with border enforcement agency Frontex in 2014.
Libya is one of the main departure points for African migrants fleeing poverty and war to reach Italy by boat, but many are intercepted at sea and brought back by the Libyan coast guard, with the approval of the European Union.
Thousands are held in government-run detention centres in what human rights groups and the United Nations say are often inhuman conditions. — NNN-AGENCIES