70 boat migrants from Libya missing in Med: NGO

Seventy migrants headed for Europe across the Mediterranean from Libya have gone missing, the independent support group Alarm Phone said on Saturday.

Separately, the UNHCR said 89 migrants and two bodies had been brought by boat to the Libyan capital Tripoli Saturday, but 40 more were still missing.

It was not immediately clear whether the two organizations were talking about the same group of migrants.

Alarm Phone said a boat with 70 people on board had been missing for four days after leaving the port of Khoms, some 120 kilometers west of the capital.

“They departed from Khoms, Libya, & called Alarm Phone several times,” it tweeted.

“When we lost contact, they were in Malta SAR (search and rescue) zone, 18 kilometers to Italian waters, but there is no record of their rescue or arrival. Authorities are silent.”

The UNHCR said in a tweet that the 89 survivors brought to Tripoli on Saturday included eight women and three children.

It said 40 more were missing after the group set off on a hazardous journey in wooden and rubber boats.

Alarm Phone criticized authorities in Malta and Italy.

“Why did Maltese and Italian authorities refuse first to rescue, then to provide information on their fate? Were the 70 people left to die? Were they secretly pushed back to Libya? We demand answers!” it said.

Tens of thousands of people seek to cross the central Mediterranean each year, normally setting off from Libya and aiming for the Italian coast, but it is often a deadly journey.

At least 1,369 people have died on the route so far this year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in early September.

ARR