More than 100 feared dead off Libyan coast: Doctors Without Borders
Many migrants leave Libya in unseaworthy boats in a bid to reach Europe
Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday it fears that a boat packed with migrants sunk off the Libyan coast with more than one hundred people dead.
"We have every reason to fear the worst — that over 100 lives were lost and nobody will ever know for sure," the organization said in a statement on Twitter.
The Libyan coast guard was not immediately available for comment.
Libya is a hub for migrants and refugees, many of whom try to reach Europe in unseaworthy boats.
A boat carrying about 250 people, mainly from Eritrea and other sub-Saharan Africa and Arab countries, capsized last month off the coast near Komas, east of the capital Tripoli.
đź”´ Our teams in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Libya?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Libya</a> have not yet been able to make contact with the survivors of this reported <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/shipwreck?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#shipwreck</a> nor has there been any official confirmation of the tragedy, but we have every reason to fear the worst - that over 100 lives were lost and nobody will ever know for sure. <a href="https://t.co/io61wJFlgC">https://t.co/io61wJFlgC</a>
—@MSF_SeaLibyan coast guards and local fishermen rescued 134 people while about 115 were missing, bringing the death toll of Mediterranean migrants to over 600 this year.
That put 2019 on course to be the sixth year in a row with more than 1,000 deaths, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said at the time.