UN: 90 migrants feared drowned after boat capsizes off Libya
GENEVA — About 90 people are feared drowned after a smuggler’s boat carrying mostly Pakistani migrants capsized off Libya’s coast early Friday, the U.N.’s migration agency said.
Ten bodies have washed ashore near the Libyan town of Zuwara following the tragedy in the early morning, said International Organization for Migration spokeswoman Olivia Headon, citing information from its partner agencies.
“We are told that two survivors swam to shore, and one person was rescued by a fishing boat,” Headon said by phone from Tunisia’s capital to reporters at the U.N. in Geneva. “We are working to get more details on the (capsizing) and where the survivors are so that we can assist them better.”
Initially, the Libyan coast guard said a patrol it sent out found no signs of a capsized boat, survivors, or drowned migrants. But late at night, it cited a statement from officials in Zuwara who said that 13 bodies had been found, all Pakistani except for one Libyan woman.