Bodies of 74 migrants wash ashore Al-Zawiya in western Libya
The bodies of 74 migrants washed ashore on the Libyan coast after their boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, aid workers said Tuesday.
The Libyan Red Crescent said the bodies were recovered in the northwestern coastal city of Zawiya.
Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the U.N. Migration Agency, said their dinghy departed from the western city of Sabratha on Saturday with 110 people aboard.
Sabratha, an important archaeological site and a launch point for migrants trying to reach Europe, was briefly seized by the Islamic State in 2016, according to media reports.
Red Crescent spokesman Mohammed al-Misrati told the Associated Press the bodies were found Monday morning and that he expected more to appear. A torn rubber boat was found nearby, he said.
The IOM said Tuesday that 13,170 migrants arrived in Europe by sea so far this year, and 272 were dead or missing.
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