A boat with around 70 people that left Libya four days ago is missing

Civil society organizations that monitor the flow of migrants in the central Mediterranean toThey were awakened this Saturday from the disappearance of an inflatable boat with around 70 people on board which would have left the Libyan city four days ago from Khoms to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

According to one of them, Alarm Phone, all contact with the boat was lost while in the maritime rescue area (SAR) of Malta, just eleven miles from Italian territorial waters.

The NGO urges the authorities of the two countries to start the search for the boat, at the risk of being wrecked or started to sink.

The Central Mediterranean Route, which starts in the Sahel and crosses the desert before opening to the sea from the beaches of Tunisia and Libya, is considered the deadliest in the world.

According to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) more than 25,200 people have been intercepted in this area of ​​the Mediterranean throughout this year, more than double that of last year, and returned to Libya despite being considered “a dangerous country”.

Other 455 died and 660 others went missing during the same period, against the 381 dead and 597 missing in 2020.

Libya is a bankrupt state, victim of chaos and civil war, since 2011 NATO has contributed militarily to the victory of the various rebel groups over the dictatorship of Muammar al-Gaddafi.

At present, the country continues to be divided into two political fronts, despite the mediation efforts of the UN, and is plagued by militias, mercenaries and various mafias, who have set up a system of privateer economy throughout North Africa and the Sahel.