CAIRO: The bodies of two African migrants and a 5-month-old boy who drowned in a shipwreck over the weekend were found on the coast of Libya, a UN official said on Wednesday.

Separately, the Libyan coast guard intercepted a ship with 130 Europe-bound migrants and returned them to Libya.

Safa Msehli, a spokeswoman for the International Organisation for Migration, said the three bodies washed up near the Libyan coastal town of Zawiya.

They were among a dozen people who were missing and feared drowned after a boat carrying around three dozen migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea on Saturday. Zawiya is about 48 kilometres (30 miles) west of the capital, Tripoli. Two children were reported to be among the missing migrants.

The 130 migrants intercepted on Wednesday were mainly from Sudan, and included seven women and three children, Msehli said.

Libya, which descended into chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Qadhafi, has emerged as a major transit point for African and Arab migrants fleeing war and poverty to Europe.

Most migrants make the perilous journey to Europe in ill-equipped and unsafe rubber boats. The IOM said in March that its estimated death toll among migrants who tried to cross the Mediterranean passed the grim milestone of 20,000 deaths since 2014.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2020