4 die as boat capsizes off Libya

TRIPILI(Libya): At least four people were killed when two boats carrying 95 migrants capsized off the coast of the western Libyan city of Al Khums, the Libyan Red Crescent said on Saturday, as per Xinhua.

In a statement posted on its official Facebook page, the Red Crescent said that the two incidents occurred on Thursday night.

It added that the first boat was carrying 26 migrants of Bangladeshi nationality, four of whom died after the vessel sank. The second boat was carrying 69 illegal migrants, including two Egyptians and 67 Sudanese, among them eight children, Xinhua reported.

The Red Crescent noted that its emergency team, in cooperation with the coast guard and port security authority, carried out rescue operations, recovered the bodies, and handled the cases according to established procedures, as per Xinhua.

In recent weeks, similar incidents have occurred frequently along the Libyan coast, where coastal cities have seen a rise in efforts to retrieve the bodies of undocumented migrants and rescue many others stranded at sea while trying to cross the Mediterranean toward Europe.

Libya is a North African country, known as the Socialist People’s Arab Jamahiriya. Most of the country is desert, and the population is concentrated along the coast, where the official capital Tripoli and the main city Benghazi are located. Oil is the main source of revenue providing approximately 90 per cent of the country’s income. There is a welfare state system, which provides medical care and education to the population.

The LRC was founded in 1957. It was recognized by the ICRC in 1958 and joined the International Federation the same year.

The Libyan Red Crescent (LRC) is a legal entity governed by its own statutes, which were drawn up in conformity with the Fundamental Principles. Its objectives are to support health and social solidarity, though contributing to the development of health services and cooperating with international organizations. The LRC is particularly active in health, the blood-transfusion service, first-aid training (especially community-based first aid) and HIV/AIDS prevention. (ANI)