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At least 60 migrants feared dead after Libya shipwrecks: IOM

Last updated: June 18, 2025 | 19:42

Photo used for illustrative purpose. File / AFP

Migrants try to board a smuggler's boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines, northern France, on June 16, 2025. The sun was just rising on June 16, 2025, but dozens of migrants were striding along the beach in Gravelines, watched by almost as many police officers. Some of them managed to board a dinghy bound for England, leaving disappointed, haggard people behind. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)

Members of a coalition to defend Affirmative Action and Immigrant Rights, BAMN, (By Any Means Necessary) walk to Paramount City Hall in protest to ICE and the Trump Administration's immigration policies in Paramount, Calif. on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

,Migrants run as they try to board a smuggler's boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines, northern France on June 16, 2025. The sun was just rising on June 16, 2025, but dozens of migrants were striding along the beach in Gravelines, watched by almost as many police officers. Some of them managed to board a dinghy bound for England, leaving disappointed, haggard people behind. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)

Migrants run with their children as they try to board a smuggler's boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines, northern France, on June 16, 2025. The sun was just rising on June 16, 2025, but dozens of migrants were striding along the beach in Gravelines, watched by almost as many police officers. Some of them managed to board a dinghy bound for England, leaving disappointed, haggard people behind. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)

A French Navy boat sails past a boat carrying migrants attempting to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines, northern France on June 16, 2025. The sun was just rising on June 16, 2025, but dozens of migrants were striding along the beach in Gravelines, watched by almost as many police officers. Some of them managed to board a dinghy bound for England, leaving disappointed, haggard people behind. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)

At least 60 migrants are feared dead after a pair of shipwrecks off the coast of Libya over the past week, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

The first ship went down on June 12 near a Libyan port in Tripoli, with 21 people, including women and children, reported missing and only five survivors found, the IOM said in a statement on Tuesday.

Those lost at sea included Eritrean, Pakistani, Egyptian and Sudanese nationals.

The second wreck took place about 35 kilometres (20 miles) off the port city of Tobruk, with the sole survivor reporting 39 people lost at sea, according to the UN body.

"With dozens feared dead and entire families left in anguish, IOM is once again urging the international community to scale up search and rescue operations and guarantee safe, predictable disembarkation for survivors," said Othman Belbeisi, the IOM's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

According to the statement, at least 743 people have died so far this year trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

The deadly route, it said, is "marked by increasingly dangerous smuggling practices, limited rescue capacity and growing restrictions on humanitarian operations."

As of June 15, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, migrant landings on the Italian coast were up 15 percent year on year, with most originating in Libya.

Agence France-Presse

At least 60 migrants feared dead after Libya shipwrecks: IOM

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