At least six Bangladeshis, including two children, died after two boats carrying around 500 migrants capsized off Libya early Thursday.
A Bangladesh Embassy team currently stationed at the scene confirmed the number to the Dhaka Tribune and said 46 more Bangladeshis were rescued, while two remained missing.
“There were 54 Bangladeshis on one of the boats. Among them, six died, two of whom were children. Two are still missing, and 46 survived because they were wearing life jackets,” Ashraful Islam, labour counsellor at the embassy, told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.
He, however, could not say if there were more Bangladeshis on the other boat.
The accident happened off the Libyan coastal town of Zuwara, located around 300km west of Tripoli, as the boats were crossing the Mediterranean Sea towards Italy.
The Bangladesh Embassy team, led by Ashraful, is coordinating medical and humanitarian support, the UNB reported.
The migrants were rescued by the Libyan Coast Guards and extended treatment facilities. The rescued Bangladeshis were all admitted to hospital and released after first aid, the UNB quoted a Foreign Ministry note.
The Reuters reported that at least 105 bodies washed ashore as the boats sank, and the Libyan authorities rescued at least 198 people, according to Red Crescent officials at work in Zuwara, when this report was filed last night.
However, the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, are fearing that as many as 200 people from the boats may be dead.
“We are hearing media reports that there are more than 100 survivors. Our office in Libya is checking with the coastguard. We believe 200 are still missing, feared dead,” said UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming while talking to journalists in Geneva, according to the AFP.
The victims included migrants from Syria, Bangladesh and several sub-Saharan African countries, local residents said, but the information could not be independently verified.
Libyan authorities constrained
The Libyan coast guard worked overnight on Thursday to search for survivors from the tragic twin capsize.
Lacking navy ships, Libyan officials were searching for survivors with fishing boats and inflatables provided by locals, Reuters reported. Red Crescent teams wearing protective gear were seen collecting bodies that had washed ashore on a Zuwara beach yesterday, placing them in orange plastic bags and carrying them to ambulances.
Libya has turned into a major transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to make it to Europe. Cross-border smuggler networks exploit the country’s chaos to bring Syrians into Libya via Egypt or nationals of sub-Saharan countries via Niger, Sudan and Chad.
