632 Migrants Rescued Off Libyan Coast in Past Week

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Monday that 632 asylum seekers were rescued off the Libyan coast last week. “In the period of 13-19 February, 632 migrants were rescued/intercepted at sea and returned to Libya,” the IOM said in a statement. The organization reported that since the beginning of the year, 2,353 illegal migrants, including 228 women and 77 minors, were rescued on the Central Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy and returned to Libya, and that 36 migrants had died and 87 went missing on that route. In 2021, 32,425 migrants were rescued, 662 died and 891 went missing on the same route, the IOM said. Libya has been the preferred point of departure for African asylum seekers trying to reach Europe since the fall of the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.