Nearly 100 missing after migrant boat sinks near Libya: All you need to know

Survivors account

Survivors gave an account to AFP saying that the boat sank following an explosion on board at the wee hours on Friday after departing from Garaboulli, east of Tripoli. The passengers included a number of Moroccan families and Yemenis. The Associated Press quoted a Yemeni survivor as saying that the boat carried some 125 migrants, including women and children before it capsized near Tripoli.

Libya: Main point of transit for migrants

Since the 2011 uprising in Libya that toppled Muammar Gaddafi’s rule in the African country, it has become the main transit point for people fleeing to Europe. Migrants try to cross to Europe through Libya by the sea route usually in flimsy inflatable boats provided by smugglers while some make it to international waters where they hope to be picked up by international vessels, but are mostly picked up by Libya’s EU-backed coastguard and are returned to Libya.

In 2014, there was a surge of migrants fleeing to Europe and more than 650,000 migrants would have crossed the central Mediterranean, but has slowed since July, when the smuggling networks on Libya’s side of the Mediterranean coast was partially disrupted under the pressure of Italian authorities.

UNHCR’s response to migrant crisis

Charlie Yaxley, a spokesman for refugee agency United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said they were awaiting the legal analysis of a European Union summit which is contemplating taking in migrants from across the Mediterranean region and collaboration on asylum would be welcomed. He also noted that it has been the fifth year in a row that the more than 1,000 migrant deaths have occurred in the Mediterranean, as reported by The Associated Press.

While the EU leaders said the agreement on migration would bolster the bloc’s external borders and improve the solidarity among member nations,  European Union President Donald Tusk has said it was ‘too early to talk about success’ in the deal on migration and warned that to make the agreement work tough work lies ahead.

“We have sent a clear message to all vessels, including those of NGOs, operating in the Mediterranean that they must respect the law and must not obstruct the operation of the Libyan coastguard,” Tusk was quoted by AFP.