CAIRO (AP) — At least 74 bodies of African migrants have washed ashore in western Libya, the Libyan Red Crescent said Tuesday, the latest tragedy at sea along a perilous but increasingly popular trafficking route to Europe.
The bodies were found near the western Libyan city of Zawiya on Monday, Red Crescent spokesman Mohammed al-Misrati told The Associated Press, adding that he feared more might surface. He said a torn rubber boat, the kind that usually carry up to 120 people, was found nearby.
The Red Crescent's branch in Zawiya said there are bodies still floating out at sea but it has no means to retrieve them.
The International Organization of Migration said the traffickers took the engine and left the boat to drift. Another 12 migrants remain missing and are "presumed drowned," and a sole survivor was transferred to a hospital in a coma, the U.N. migration agency said on Twitter.
Libyan coast guard spokesman Ayoub Gassim said over 500 migrants were rescued at sea on Friday and Saturday off the coast of Sebratha, a city to the west of Zawiya. The migrants' boats were about 5-7 miles (8-11 kilometers) from the coast.
Gassim said the smugglers pack larger rubber boats with up to 180 people, dramatically increasing the risk of capsizing.
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Photo provided by The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), shows the bodies of people that washed ashore and were recovered by the Libyan Red Crescent, near Zawiya, Libya.