90 Migrants Drowned off Libya Coast, Majority from Pakistan, Libya

The EU has tried to reduce migrant numbers with a highly criticised deal with the Libya coastguard

90 Migrants Drowned off Libya Coast, Majority from Pakistan, Libya

Three survivors of the latest migrant’s boat-mishap off the Libya coast has said majority of the victims are Pakistani nationals and Libyans.

The United Nations migration agency on Friday announced that ninety migrants are feared drowned in the boat incident.

Libya has for years been a major transit route for migrants trying to reach southern Europe by sea.

EU countries have wrangled over both reducing migrant numbers and deciding which countries are responsible for processing migrants on arrival.

The EU struck a deal with the Libyan coastguard last year to help intercept migrants and return them to Libya.

But aid agencies and the UN accused European governments of taking an “inhuman” approach.

What happened in the latest disaster?

From a boat carrying more than 90, only three survivors are reported – two of whom managed to swim to shore while the third was picked up by a fishing boat.

“Ten bodies are reported to have washed up on Libyan shores,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement.

Unusually, there were also Libyans among the dead and survivors of the shipwreck, reports the BBC’s North Africa correspondent Rana Jawad.

The Facebook page of the security directorate in the coastal city of Zuwara, where the bodies washed up, said a Libyan woman had drowned, but that of the three survivors two were Libyan nationals.

What’s unusual about the nationalities of those on board?

The majority of those on board were Pakistani – but the IOM says increasing number of Pakistanis are attempting the perilous crossing.

While Pakistanis were 13th on a list of the number of migrants trying to reach Europe last year by nationality, so far this year they are third, the IOM says.

Perhaps aware of the danger, Libyans rarely attempt the boat journey from their country to southern Europe.

Some cases of illegal Libyan migration were documented last year, but they usually involved sturdier boats that were carrying few people.

If the channels have been opened again, that might explain the sudden surge which has seen numbers increase again.