UN says 170 migrants drowned off Libya

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MOGADISHU, Somalia – The United Nations has expressed deep concern two new boats carrying nearly 200 migrants which sank off Libya.

Filippo Grandi, the United Nations refugee agency [UNHCR] chief says it remains unclear if the migrants died or missing after reports of two shipwrecks on Mediterranean Sea.

But, NGOs, said about 53 people died on the Alborán Sea, in the western part of the Mediterranean.

A migrant, who was rescued by a passing fishing boat, said that it was terrible about what he saw after the incident off coast of Libya.

“It can’t be tolerated such a terrible tragedy of the Mediterranean to continue,” said Filippo Grandi.

The Italian Navy is part of rescue mission, in a bid to rescue dozens of migrants who drowned.

Three survivors, who were taken for treatment on the island of Lampedusa, reported that another 117 people, currently dead or missing, had boarded the ship with them in Libya.

UNHCR has been unable to independently verify the death tolls for these two shipwrecks, but in 2018, 2,262 people lost their lives attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.