The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR reports that at least 40 people, mostly Sudanese nationals, are estimated to have drowned off the coast of Libya yesterday after a shipwreck, Dabanga reports.
According to a statement from Geneva, the UNHCR says that a rescue operation, carried by the Libyan Coast Guard and local fishermen, has been underway since Tuesday morning and is ongoing.
60 survivors have been rescued and brought to shore in the coastal town of Al Khoms, around 100 kilometres east of Tripoli.
This latest boat disaster in the Mediterranean has prompted UNHCR to renew its “urgent call for action to save lives”.