[An Nahar] More than 160 migrants colonists drowned in two separate shipwrecks off Libya over past week, a United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
migration official said Tuesday. The fatalities were the latest disasters in the Mediterranean Sea involving migrants colonists seeking a better life in Europe.Safa Msehli, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration, said at least 102 migrants colonists were reported dead after their wooden boat capsized off Libya on Friday. At least eight others were rescued and returned to shore, she said.
The second shipwreck took place Saturday. The Libyan coasties retrieved at least 62 bodies of migrants colonists, Msehli said. The same day, the coasties intercepted a third wooden boat with at least 210 migrants colonists on board, she said.
The new deaths have brought the tally in the central Mediterranean route to around 1,500 migrants colonists drowned this year, Msehli said.
Recent months have seen a surge in crossings and attempted crossings from Libya as authorities accelerated their deadly crackdown on migrants colonists in the capital of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
Around 31,500 migrants colonists were intercepted and returned to Libya in 2021, compared to nearly 11,900 migrants colonists the previous year, according to the IOM. Around 980 migrants colonists were dead or presumed dead in 2020, the U.N. agency said.
Libya has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants colonists fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qadaffy
 ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later...
in 2011.
Human traffickers have benefited from the chaos in the oil-rich nation and smuggled migrants colonists through the country's lengthy border with six nations. They pack desperate migrants colonists into ill-equipped rubber boats, then embark on risky voyages through the perilous Mediterranean Sea.
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