Red Crescent spokesman Mohamed al-Misrati said, “Local residents told us about bodies on the beaches around Zliten. We discovered 25 bodies, then another four.”
The Sun Daily is reporting He did not give further details on the nationalities of the deceased, but according to the Tripoli authorities official news agency, the deceased were from Africa. The Red Crescent was in the process of recovering more bodies on Sunday, according to the news agency.
Libya is a popular jumping-off point for immigrants trying to get to Europe. The country’s 1,770 Km. (1,099 miles) long coastline is poorly patrolled, though. On Wednesday last week, six bodies, including two women and one child, were discovered on a beach near the town of Guarabouli.
From Libya, the most popular close destination for immigrants seeking asylum in Europe is the Italian island of Lampedusa, about 300 Km. away.
Also on Sunday, three migrants, two children, and a woman, drowned when the boat they were in sank off the island of Lesbos, the Greek Coast Guard reported. Around 12 other people, mostly Afghans, are still missing after the rickety boat carrying 60 people went down at dawn.
Many of the migrants crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece do not know how to swim, and the sub-standard life vests they have are not enough to save them if they fall into the water. A helicopter and patrol boat operated by the European border agency Frontex, found the bodies of the two children and woman.
Another search which has turned out to be futile was initiated on Saturday night when a two-year-old Afghan boy fell in the water somewhere between Turkey and Lesbos.
Even with worsening weather making the journey from Turkey to Greece very dangerous, a record 48,000 refugees and migrants made the perilous journey to Greece this week, reports ABC.au. An astounding 670,000 people fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, have flooded Europe this year, the largest movement of its kind since WWII.
