The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says it rescues 1,088 migrants and returned them to Libya in the past week.
“In the period between Dec. 25 and Dec. 31, 2022, 1,088 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya,” the IOM said in a statement.
The rescued migrants included 312 women and 776 children, it added.
In 2022, it rescued 24,684 migrants and returned them to Libya, the IOM stated.
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It added that 525 migrants died and 848 others went missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean route.
Because of the insecurity and chaos in the country since the fall of late leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, many migrants, mostly Africans, chose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya.
Rescued migrants usually end up inside overcrowded reception centres across Libya.
This is in spite of repeated international calls to close those centres and release the migrants. (Xinhua)
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