MIGRANT BOAT CAPSIZE IN LIBYA : Death toll includes 24 Bangladeshis

The death toll of Bangladeshi migrants in the tragedy of Thursday late night’s boats capsizes off the Libyan coast en route to Italy reached at 24, a Bangladeshi official confirmed on Saturday late evening.
‘The number of death of Bangladeshis reached at 24 and 54 were rescued alive,’ Ashraful Islam, labour counsellor of Bangladesh embassy in Libya, which is currently stationed in a bordering Tunisian town, told New Age over phone at about 9pm Saturday.
The number of death was eight till Friday night and 16 more bodies of Bangladeshi were counted on Saturday. The Bangladeshis who died are yet to be identified, the official said.
Around 78 Bangladeshis were in the two boats that sank with 500 would-be migrants in Mediterranean Sea near Libyan coastal town of Zuwara where the boats had disembarked.
According to agencies, rescuers have retrieved from the sea the bodies of 111 migrants, the Red Crescent said on Saturday. A spokesman for the Libyan relief organisation said dozens are still missing after Thursday’s tragedy.
‘So far 111 bodies have been retrieved from the sea while dozens of people are still missing,’ the spokesman Mohammad al-Misrati said.
He said the boat carried 400 would-be migrants, and that 198 had been rescued.
On Friday Misrati said 76 bodies had been retrieved after the boat sunk near the western Libyan port of Zuwara.
Red Crescent teams wearing protective white clothing and masks on Friday collected bodies that had washed ashore, placing them in orange plastic bags and carrying them to ambulances.
Ashraful Islam, labour counsellor of Bangladesh embassy in Libya told New Age that no decision was taken to send the bodies.
The Bangladeshis who were rescued in boat capsize in Libyan coast would be repatriated with cooperation of International Organization for Migration, he added.
Bangladesh government would request IOM to take up the process to repatriate the rescued workers, said officials.
He said that that Bangladesh embassy official did not have access to visit the bodies of Bangladeshi migrants because no diplomat was given permission to see the bodies.
The official said that the female migrants among the rescued Bangladeshis were taken under supervision of the Bangladesh Embassy.
Rest of the workers was kept in a detention center of the Tripoli authorities, he said.
Now, cooperation of International Organization for Migration will be sought to repatriate the rescued, he said.
The official said that the Bangladeshis were trying to migrate to Europe due
to the prevailing situation in Libya.
He said although the foreign workers leaving Libya had been reported before, it was the first time Bangladeshis with their families was leaving Libya. Of the Bangladeshis in the sunken boats, two families were from Syria and others were living in Libya for a long time.
Libya has turned into a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to make it to Europe. Cross-border smuggler networks exploit the country’s lawlessness and chaos to bring Syrians into Libya via Egypt or nationals of sub-Saharan countries via Niger, Sudan and Chad.
More than 2,500 people have died making the crossing this year, not including those drowned on Thursday. That compares with 3,500 who died or went missing in the Mediterranean in 2014.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net