At least 45 migrants and refugees drown in Mediterranean in the largest recorded shipwreck off Libya's coast this year
Migrants on a rubber dinghy are pictured during a rescue operation by the MSF-SOS Mediterranee run Ocean Viking rescue ship, off the coast of Libya on February 18, 2020.
The two organisations called on countries to urgently review their approach to the tragic situation, which routinely sees migrants desperate to leave war-ravaged Libya for Europe perish at sea.Absence of 'dedicated' rescue plan At the same time the non-governmental organisations, who have taken on much of the burden of saving lives in the Mediterranean as European states scaled back state-led efforts, were facing numerous legal and logistical restrictions, they said, urging countries to stop impeding their work.
Migrants in the country, they pointed out, are "at risk of the ongoing conflict, severe human rights violations, and arbitrary detention post-disembarkation".The UN agencies lamented that responsibility for rescues was increasingly being left to Libyan state vessels, pointing out that this had led to more than 7,000 people being returned to Libya so far this year alone.
The migrants, among them five women, two of them pregnant, said the boat engine had stopped working and they did not have any food or water, the group said. Libya, which descended into chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed Muammar Gaddafi, has emerged as a major transit point for African and Arab migrants fleeing war and poverty to Europe.
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