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According to a naval official, at least 115 people are missing after the sinking of a boat carrying migrants off the coast of Libya.
According to General Ayoub Kacem, 134 people were saved and a body found.
The boat was carrying about 250 people from several African and Arab countries when it sank 8 km off the coast, General Kacem said.
The UN agency for refugees said that it was the most deadly sinking of the Mediterranean so far this year.
Pbad the @RefugeesChief Twitter message
The worst Mediterranean tragedy this year has just happened. Restoring rescue operations at sea, ending the detention of refugees and migrants in Libya, the multiplication of safe escape routes to Libya must take place NOW, before it is too late for many desperate people. https://twitter.com/yaxle/status/1154381535509979136…
Reports of a large wreck off the coast of Libya. Some 150 survivors were reportedly saved and returned to Libya. One of the survivors reports that a large group died at sea; it is estimated to be around 150.
The details always arrive.
report
End of @RefugeesChief's post Twitter
At least 65 migrants died in May after their boat capsized off the Tunisian coast. Sixteen people survived.
A total of 164 people died on the road linking Libya and Europe in the first four months of 2019, according to UNHCR figures.
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionMigrants often make the perilous journey from Libya to Europe in overcrowded boats, like this one, photographed in early July.
The latest tragedy occurred shortly after the boat left the Libyan town of Al Khoms, about 120 km east of Tripoli.
Earlier, UNHCR said it had understood that as many as 150 people were missing and that 150 people had been rescued by local fishermen and returned to Libya by the coastguard.
Charlie Yaxley, UNHCR, said he was concerned that the survivors could be taken to two detention centers where "there is not enough food, water, unsanitary conditions … " [and] numerous cases of human rights violations ".
Earlier this month, 40 migrants were killed after a detention center in the suburbs of Tripoli was hit by an air strike.
The country has been torn apart by violence and division since longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed in 2011.
Caption: Women and children detained in camps near fierce fighting in the Libyan capital, Tripoli
Thousands of migrants attempt to cross the Mediterranean every year to visit Europe, and Libya is an essential starting point.
Those who make the trip often travel aboard poorly maintained and overcrowded ships, and many are dead.
But since mid-2017, the number of migrant trips has dropped considerably.
This decline is due in large part to the fact that Italy has engaged Libyan forces to prevent migrants from leaving or returning them to Libya if they were at sea – a policy condemned by the defense organizations human rights.
In the first three months of 2019, some 15,900 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe via Mediterranean routes, a decrease of 17% compared to the same period in 2018.
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