Waves wash bodies of 15 migrants ashore on Libya’s eastern coast

Tripoli, June 20 (SANA) The bodies of at least 15 migrants, including a girl, have washed ashore on Libya’s eastern Mediterranean coast in recent days after a boat carrying them sank off the country’s coast, according to security and medical sources and a Libyan navy official.

Reuters quoted the navy source as saying on Saturday that the vessel had been carrying about 61 people. The bodies were recovered from several locations along the coast of Tobruk near the Egyptian border.

Two security officials said the bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition, warning that more victims could be found in the area.

Images released by the Red Crescent in Tobruk showed volunteers wearing protective suits as they recovered bodies from rocky beaches and placed them in body bags.

In a separate incident, the Emergency Medicine and Support Center affiliated with Libya’s Health Ministry said its teams treated 13 migrants following a boat sinking off the Libyan coast near the city of Al Khums.

Libya has remained a major transit route for irregular migration to Europe across the Mediterranean since 2011.

F.J./M.Z.