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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
Source: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) |

News alert: Libyan Red Crescent recovers 74 bodies in northern Libya

Libyan Red Crescent volunteers collected the bodies of the deceased with dignity, placing them in body bags for transfer to a local hospital

More than 270 people migrating are believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean in the first weeks of 2017

GENEVA, Switzerland, February 21, 2017/APO/ --

The Libyan Red Crescent has recovered the bodies of 74 people who washed ashore yesterday (20 February), near Zawiya on Libya’s northern coast.

Photos are available for download here.

It appears that the deceased had been on a boat attempting to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe. A torn rubber dinghy was reportedly found nearby.

Libyan Red Crescent volunteers collected the bodies of the deceased with dignity, placing them in body bags for transfer to a local hospital. 

More than 270 people migrating are believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean in the first weeks of 2017, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In 2016, more than 5,000 deaths at sea were recorded, making it the deadliest year on record. 

The IFRC calls for collective international action to avert further deaths like these which are tragic and entirely preventable.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).