At least 42 migrants are missing and presumed dead after a rubber boat capsized off the Libyan coast last week, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), only seven people were rescued after drifting for six days at sea.
The vessel, carrying 49 people, including two women, departed from Zuwara, west of Tripoli, on November 3. About six hours later, rough waves caused the engine to fail, the IOM said in a statement.
Libyan authorities launched a search and rescue operation on Saturday near the Al Buri oil field, where survivors were eventually found.
“After drifting at sea for six days, only seven men — four from Sudan, two from Nigeria, and one from Cameroon — were rescued,” the IOM said. “Tragically, 42 individuals remain missing and are presumed dead, including 29 from Sudan, eight from Somalia, three from Cameroon, and two from Nigeria.”
The rescued migrants received emergency medical care, food, and water upon being brought ashore.
More than 1,000 people have died this year attempting to cross the central Mediterranean route between North Africa and southern Europe, according to IOM data.
“With this latest shipwreck, the total has risen even further, reinforcing the urgent need for strengthened regional cooperation, expanded safe and regular migration pathways, and more effective search and rescue operations,” the agency said.
A European Commission spokesperson told AFP that the tragedy highlights the need for greater collaboration with partner countries to prevent dangerous journeys and dismantle smuggling networks.
UNHCR estimates that over 1,700 people have died or gone missing this year on the wider Mediterranean and West Africa Atlantic migration routes. Since 2014, around 33,000 migrants have been reported dead or missing in the Mediterranean, according to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project.
Meanwhile, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced it has resumed its search and rescue operations in the central Mediterranean after suspending them in December 2024.
The new vessel, Oyvon, previously used as an ambulance ship in Norway, has a smaller and faster design. “We have returned to carry out the duty of rescue for those in distress at sea, forced to take unseaworthy boats after enduring deplorable and inhumane conditions in Libya,” said Juan Matias Gil, MSF’s search and rescue representative.
The MSF crew includes a doctor and a nurse trained to treat survivors for hypothermia, fuel inhalation, and injuries from abuse and detention in Libya.