Sharjah24 – AFP: At least 74 migrants died in a "devastating" shipwreck on Thursday off the Libyan coast, the United Nations said, the latest in a spate of migrant vessel sinkings in the central Mediterranean.
This year has seen a resurgence of boats in the central Mediterranean, a well-trodden but often deadly route for those hoping to travel to Europe, mainly embarking from Libya and neighbouring Tunisia.
The UN's International Organization for Migration reported "a devastating shipwreck which claimed the lives of at least 74 migrants today off the coast of Khoms," in a statement, adding that the coastguard and fishermen were searching for survivors.
Khoms is a port city 120 kilometres (75 miles) west of the Libyan capital Tripoli.
The IOM called it the latest disaster in a "series of tragedies" involving at least eight other shipwrecks in the Mediterranean sea since the start of October.
The IOM said that in the past two days, at least 19 other people, including two children, drowned after two boats capsized in the central Mediterranean.
More than 20,000 migrants have died in the last seven years, according to the UN refugee agency.
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