Hundreds of Migrants Rescued on the Route from Libya to Italy

The Libyan Coast Guard and a Doctors Without Borders ship rescued several hundred migrants in the waters near the Libyan coast on Saturday, March 10. In recent days, due to the calm waters in the region, traffickers have been sending many boats towards Italy. A spokesperson for the Libyan Coast Guard stated that two boats carrying migrants were identified and stopped, one of which was a recreational inflatable boat with 125 passengers that had broken down in the waters west of Tripoli. The second boat, with 110 passengers, was identified in the waters east of Tripoli and was subsequently returned. Another boat with 110 migrants managed to reach a Doctors Without Borders rescue ship in waters approximately 30 kilometers west of Tripoli, and this aid organization is expected to transfer them to Italy. More than half of the migrants are from Nigeria, two are Palestinian, and the rest are from sub-Saharan African countries. Meanwhile, the Libyan Coast Guard in Zuwara, one of the main points from which migrants were previously trafficked, reported that during the night they neutralized the movement of several boats from the shore, detaining some migrants while others escaped. The Coast Guard released images of African migrants sitting on an inflatable boat after being detained in the darkness of night. Libya is currently the main point of departure for migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea. Over the past four years, due to traffickers exploiting the security vacuum in Libya, more than 600,000 migrants have made their way to Europe via the central Mediterranean route. Since last summer, when the government based in Tripoli and traffickers active in the city of Sabratha reached an agreement, and then rival armed groups completely drove them out of the city, the number of migrant journeys from the Libyan shores has significantly decreased. At the same time, the Libyan Coast Guard, supported by the European Union, has increased its patrols and inspections, often stopping boats carrying migrants before they reach international waters from where they can head to Europe.