More than 120 migrant bodies washed up in Sabratha, mayor says

Bodies of drowned migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea have continued to wash up around the Libyan city of Sabratha, and as at the last count, a total number of 120 bodies have been recovered.

According to the city’s mayor, Hussein Thwadi, the bodies of the drowned migrants are being washed up on a daily basis with a staggering number of 53 bodies found on a single day last week.

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Libya is a common departure point for migrants seeking to travel to Europe by boat, many of them fleeing violence, repression or poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

Political turmoil and armed conflict in Libya have given smugglers the space to work with impunity, running trafficking networks that bring migrants across the Sahara desert to the coast.

“The whole coast of Sabratha is open,” Thwadi told Reuters by phone. “There are patrols but they do not have enough capacity to tackle this crisis of people taking the risk to get to Europe.”

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