The UN's migration agency, International Organization for Migration (IOM) says ninety migrants are feared drowned after a boat capsized off the Libyan coast, According to the BBC, three survivors said most of those who drowned were Pakistani nationals. "Ten bodies are reported to have washed up on Libyan shores," the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement.
Libya has for years been a major transit route for migrants trying to reach southern Europe by sea. But last year the EU reached a controversial deal to provide help to the Libyan coastguard to stop the flow of boats carrying migrants and refugees to Italy.Aid agencies and the UN accused European governments of taking an inhuman approach.
A spokesperson said Pakistanis were increasingly trying to make the perilous crossing to Italy. Unusually, there were also Libyans among the dead and survivors. The Facebook page of the city's security directorate said a Libyan woman had drowned, but that, of the three survivors, two were Libyan nationals.
In the past months thousands of Nigerian held at various camps and detention centres in Libya followed their failed attempt to cross the Mediterranean sea to Europe have been repatriated and are being rehabilitated.
