Libyan rescuers find dozens of bodies

Rescue workers yesterday were looking for more bodies from a migrant boat capsize off Libya that a UN official has called “the worst Mediterranean tragedy of this year”, with at least 62 confirmed deaths so far. About 145 migrants were rescued by the Libyan coastguard after their overloaded boat went down east of the capital near the port city of Khoms on Thursday. Aid agencies fear that scores of others had drowned, with the number of missing estimated at more than 110 by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and fishermen reported the waters were full of floating bodies

The head of Libya’s Red Crescent rescue unit said 62 bodies had been recovered by Friday. “The bodies are still floating onto the shore continuously, it’s not possible to give a total number,” Abdelmoneim Abu Sbeih said. Survivors reported there were about 400 people aboard when it went down, according to global charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).