The land routes taken by migrants through Sub-Saharan Africa and the sea crossing points in Libya and Tunisia are also extremely dangerous due to wars and local conflicts. Those who survive the perilous sea crossing often face harassment by a web of agencies in European countries

Hundreds of people demonstrated in the flood-hit city of Derna against the failure of the authorities to prevent large-scale death and effectively carry out relief and rehabilitation work. Subsequently, the Osama Hammad-led government dismissed the Municipal Council and put all its members under investigation

The number of dead is expected to rise as rescue operations are still ongoing. The ship had an estimated 500 to 700 migrants, mostly from West Asian and Northern Africa countries

Most occupants of the twin boats that sank were migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa, who are facing rising racism in Tunisia following the government’s crackdown against their presence in the country 

This is the third such incident in less than a month in the eastern Mediterranean. In September, close to 100 people, mostly Lebanese and Syrians, had died off the coast of Syria while trying to cross to Europe from Lebanon

Most of the refugees were Lebanese or Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The boat had left the Miniyeh region a few days before and was headed for Europe

Both Turkey and Greece have blamed each other for the tragic deaths, with the Turkish interior minister calling the European Union’s policy of pushing back refugees “inhuman”

The Global Migration Indicators report by the International Organization for Migration is here, with an update on how COVID-19 affected migration around the world.

To prevent more deaths in the future, human rights groups in the UK have reiterated their demand for reforms in the hostile policies adopted by the Conservative government which force refugees to take unnecessary risks to enter the country

As many as 99 people on the boat were rescued alive. The wooden boat was found by Doctors without Borders (MSF) around 30 nautical miles from the Libyan coast

The International Organization of Migration (IOM), a UN agency, claimed that more than 1,146 people drowned while crossing the sea between January and June this year, in comparison to 513 victims in the same period last year