Report: Bodies of 100 migrants found off Libyan coast

As many as 100 bodies, presumably of migrants, have been found washed up on the beach near the Libyan city of Tajoura, a migrant rights group said on Tuesday.

Migrant Report stated that the spokesman of Tripoli’s anti-immigration department confirmed the bodies are believed to be the victims of a shipwreck off Tajoura, which is known as a sending spot for migrants heading for Europe on boats.

The victims include women and children.

The authorities have not yet been able to confirm the number of bodies or identify their nationalities. The bodies were sent to a hospital in Tripoli.

If the number of dead is confirmed, it would be the biggest tragedy by far since 18 April this year when 850 migrants are believed to have lost their lives in a single shipwreck off Libya.

According to the International Organisation for Migration, 1,914 migrants have died in the Mediterranean since January this year, compared with 1,031 people in the same period last year.

But such tragic accidents have become less frequent after European Union leaders took the decision to expand search and rescue efforts earlier in May.