ROME — The United Nations’ refugee agency said Thursday that as many as 150 people are feared dead in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya, potentially marking the deadliest migrant disaster in the Mediterranean this year.
Libya has long been a major intersection for migrants heading toward Europe in rickety boats. But the risks of taking that journey and of staying in Libya have recently increased — with Europe working to scale back rescue operations in the Mediterranean and Libya seeing its most serious fighting since 2011.
A United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman said that, in addition to the estimated 150 people dead at sea, 150 people were rescued and returned to Libya.
“The worst Mediterranean tragedy of this year has just occurred,” Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, wrote on Twitter, adding that migrants must be given safe pathways out of Libya “before it is too late for many more desperate people.”
The Libyan coast guard, rebuilt with European Union and Italian funding, works to intercept migrants and return them to Libya.
