Photo: Collected

TRIPOLI, June 18, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - At least 60 migrants are feared dead after 
a pair of shipwrecks off the coast of Libya over the past week, according to 
the International Organization for Migration.

The first ship went down on June 12 near a Libyan port in Tripoli, with 21 
people, including women and children, reported missing and only five 
survivors found, the IOM said in a statement Tuesday.

Those lost at sea included Eritrean, Pakistani, Egyptian and Sudanese 
nationals.

The second wreck took place about 35 kilometres (20 miles) off the port city 
of Tobruk, with the sole survivor reporting 39 people lost at sea, according 
to the UN body. 

"With dozens feared dead and entire families left in anguish, IOM is once 
again urging the international community to scale up search and rescue 
operations and guarantee safe, predictable disembarkation for survivors," 
said Othman Belbeisi, the IOM's regional director for the Middle East and 
North Africa.

According to the statement, at least 743 people have died so far this year 
trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

The deadly route, it said, is "marked by increasingly dangerous smuggling 
practices, limited rescue capacity and growing restrictions on humanitarian 
operations".

As of June 15, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, migrant 
landings on the Italian coast were up 15 percent year on year, with most 
originating in Libya.