UN: Boat with over 50 people capsizes off Libyan coast

A Libyan helicopter hovers over as refugees wait to get on onboard the rescue vessel in the Mediterranean Sea on 15 June 2017 [Marcus Drinkwater/Anadolu Agency]

A boat with more than 50 people on board has capsized off the Libyan coast, the United Nations said on Saturday, the latest accident involving migrants trying to reach Europe.

The exact location of the accident remains unclear, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Twitter. A spokesman for Libya’s coastguard said a patrol boat had been dispatched, without providing any further information.

🚨Happening now!
A boat carrying over 50 persons capsized off Libyan shores.
Rescuers on their way and UNHCR and partners ready to provide medical and humanitarian assistance upon disembarkation.

— UNHCR Libya (@UNHCRLibya) September 28, 2019

Libya is one of the main departure points for African migrants fleeing poverty and war to reach Italy by boat, but many are intercepted at sea and brought back by the Libyan coast guard, with the approval of the European Union.

Thousands are held in government-run detention centres in what human rights groups and the United Nations say are often inhuman conditions.

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