At Least 239 People Die In Two Shipwrecks Off Libya’s Coast

by PH November 3, 2016, 4:11 pm

In this photo taken on Sunday, April 17, 2016 migrants ask for help from a dinghy boat as they are approached by the SOS Mediterranee's ship Aquarius, background, off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa. The European Union's border agency says the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Italy more than doubled last month. Frontex said in a statement on Monday that almost 9,600 migrants attempted the crossing, one of the most perilous sea voyages for people seeking sanctuary or jobs in Europe. (Patrick Bar/SOS Mediterranee via AP)

At least 239 migrants have died in two shipwrecks off the Libyan coast, the United Nations said on Thursday.

Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, said the information was confirmed by two survivors brought ashore on the Italian island of Lampedusa, according to Reuters.

One group of migrants, including about 20 women and six children, set off in a rubber dinghy from Libya around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, but their boat collapsed after a few hours.

At about the same time, another rubber dinghy that was carrying about 130 people capsized off the Libyan shores.

The International Organization for Migration said the latest deaths meant 4,220 lives had been lost in the Mediterranean so far this year, compared with 3,777 in the whole of 2015.

Libya has become a favoured departure point for migrants seeking to reach Europe due to the political turmoil in the country.