At least 15 migrants, including a child, have died after a boat believed to be carrying dozens capsized off Libya’s eastern Mediterranean coast, according to local security and medical sources.
According to Reuters, search teams have recovered bodies across several points along the coast near Tobruk, close to the Egyptian border, with officials warning the toll may rise as recovery efforts continue.
Images released by the Tobruk Red Crescent showed emergency volunteers retrieving bodies from coastal areas and placing them into body bags as part of ongoing recovery operations.
The vessel is believed to have been ferrying about 61 people, based on testimony from 10 survivors who made it ashore.
Libya has remained a key departure point for migrants attempting to reach Europe, with many undertaking hazardous crossings across the central Mediterranean route, a sea passage widely used despite its dangers.
The latest disaster comes against a backdrop of similar fatal shipwrecks across the region in recent months. In April, a boat departing from Tajoura in Libya left more than 80 people missing from an estimated 120 on board.
In the same month, 19 migrants were discovered dead on a vessel near Lampedusa in southern Italy, with survivors saying the journey began from Libya’s western coast near Zuara. A separate incident near Crete in April similarly claimed at least 22 lives after a departure from eastern Libya.
According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), at least 765 people have died on the route this year, an increase of 150 per cent since 2025.
“These tragedies show, once again, that far too many people are still risking their lives on dangerous routes,” IOM Director General Amy Pope said in a statement.
“Saving lives must come first. But we also need stronger, unified efforts to stop traffickers and smugglers from exploiting vulnerable people, and to expand safe and regular pathways – so no one is ever forced into these deadly journeys.”
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