Libya recovers bodies of 61 migrants along coast

Country has become major transit route for people fleeing towards Europe

A rescue ship distributes life jackets to migrants on a wooden boat off the coast of Libya. Reuters

Bodies of 61 migrants have been recovered from Libya's west coast over the past two weeks, a medical centre under the nation's Health Ministry has said.

The Emergency Medicine and Support Centre said the dead were found off the coast west of Tripoli between Zuwara and Ras Ijdir on near Libya's border with Tunisia. “Remains of three were found in Mellitah and 12 bodies in Zuwara, all of them belonging to irregular migrants,” the centre said.

Another 34 were discovered in Abu Kammash and Mellitah, it added. The centre said 12 of the dead were buried, while some were taken to a mortuary for examination and documentation.

Pictures were posted on the centre's Facebook page showing medics recovering the bodies from beaches and placing them in plastic bags.

Libyan Red Crescent workers carry the body of a drowned migrant in Zuwara in 2021. AP

Last month, the International Organisation for Migration said at least 50 people had died after a vessel carrying 75 Sudanese refugees caught fire off Libya's coast.

According to data from the organisation, a total of 894,890 migrants from 45 nationalities are living in Libya.

The country has become a transit route for migrants fleeing across the Mediterranean to Europe, trying to escape conflict and poverty since the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.

But the central Mediterranean is one of the world's most dangerous maritime migration routes.