Tripoli, Libya. With the European Union on the verge of collapse from the influx of hundreds of thousands of Africans running to Europe for “the good life,” comes both news that a million more migrants are on their way, as more drown in the dangerous waters off Libya as they journey to a life of ease on european tax payers.
The Libyan coast guard recovered the bodies of eight migrants from an inflatable boat found east of Tripoli on Saturday, with dozens of other migrants feared missing, a spokesperson said. “In general this type of boat carries 100 to 110 people, so we do not know what has happened to the others,” said Issa al-Zaroog, a coastguard spokesman in the town of Garabulli.
Officials said it was not clear how the migrants, whose bodies were spotted by Chinese fishermen in the area, had died, Libyan coast guard officials said.Libya is the most common departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe by sea, with the number making the crossing rising sharply since 2014.
Ayoub Qassem said one Bangladeshi migrant had been killed and two wounded in crossfire when the coast guard from Zawiya, just west of Tripoli, clashed on Friday with smugglers escorting migrant boats out to sea.
Qassem said two rubber boats and a wooden vessel carrying some 570 migrants had been intercepted near Sabratha, west of Tripoli, triggering the clashes, and that the coast guard had destroyed a rubber boat, a bass boat and a jet-ski used by smugglers, arresting three of them.
Then Libyan officials noticed a further five rubber migrant boats got away after smugglers had fired at the coast guard from the shore and from boats, distracting them, Qassem said.
European Union authorities attached to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said separately that 380 migrants in three rubber boats had been intercepted off Zawiya and brought back to Libya on Friday, and that another 438 were intercepted on Saturday.
More than 61,000 migrants have arrived in Italy after crossing the central Mediterranean, according to the IOM. Most are packed onto ill-equipped vessels by Libyan smugglers, and are rescued by European ships once they reach international waters. Officials advised one million more African migrants are currently en-route to Europe.