A cargo ship has saved 35 Europe-bound refugees off the Mediterranean coast of Libya and returned them to Tripoli, the U.N. cash. Agency for Migration said.
The International Organization for Migration tweeted that medical assistance and relief items were given to migrants upon disembarkation, who were intersected on Thursday.
"Saving lives at sea is a moral and legal responsibility but it is unreasonable for migrants to risk heading to a dangerous harbor," the IOM added.
Libya has served as a major transit point for African and Arab refugees escaping war and poverty to Europe after the 2011 revolt that ousted and killed long-time tyrant Moammar Gadhafi.
Most migrants make the perilous journey in ill-equipped and unsafe rubber boats. As of last October, roughly 19,000 migrants have drowned or disappeared on the sea route since 2014, according to IOM.
Last week, a rubber dinghy packed with 91 migrants that set out from Libyan shores for Europe, apparently went missing in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea after leaving Libya on Feb. 8.
In recent years, the European Union has partnered with the coast guard and other Libyan forces to stop the flow of migrants. Rights groups say those efforts have left migrants at the mercy of brutal armed groups or confined in squalid detention centers that lack adequate food and water.
The latest developments come amid criticism of the European Union's lack of rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea. Member countries agreed earlier this month to end an anti-migrant smuggler operation involving only surveillance aircraft and instead deploy military ships to concentrate on upholding a widely flouted U.N. arms embargo that's considered key to winding down Libya's relentless war.
Source: AP
