586 migrants rescued off Libya coast

Nine migrants trying to reach Europe were drowned off Libya and hundreds more, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries and Bangladesh, were rescued off the port of Zawiya, west of Tripoli, the Red Crescent said yesterday.

Libyan authorities said they had rescued the migrants from four rickety boats, one of which sank.

Colonel Ayoub Qassem, spokesman for the Libyan navy, said a total of 586 migrants were rescued during the operations. They included 11 children and 60 women, and were mainly Bangladeshis and Sudanese, he told AFP.

Libyan Navy and Red Cross gave no details of the nationalities of the victims or those rescued.

The drowning deaths came just days after four migrants were killed in a boat fire off Libya and another 187 rescued.

Meanwhile, Italy's coast guard said more than 900 migrants were rescued in four separate operations in the Strait of Sicily on Saturday.

The coast guard has continued to pick up migrants in trouble in the stretch of water between the southern coast of Italy and North Africa. 

Now into the second year of its worst migration crisis since World War Two, Europe has seen more than 1.2 million people arrive since the beginning of 2015, most of them from Africa and the Middle East.

European leaders fear that a deal with Turkey to tackle the EU's worst ever migrant crisis will spark an acceleration in the already large number of crossing attempts from Libya. Around 330,000 have landed in Italy from Libya since the start of 2014.

The lawlessness, which has reigned in the North African nation since the Nato-backed overthrow of veteran dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, has made it a favoured jumping-off point for migrants and fuelled human trafficking trade.

Under the European Union deal with Turkey, all migrants and refugees, including Syrians, who cross to Greece illegally by sea from March 20 will be sent back to Turkey once they are registered and their asylum claims have been processed.

That is expected to take effect from April 4, by which time Greece must have in place a fast-track process for assessing asylum claims. The EU has pledged to help Greece set up a task force of some 4,000 staff, including judges, interpreters, border guards and others to manage each case individually.

In return, the EU will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with more money, early visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations.

'NO BANGLADESHI AMONG THE RESCUED'

Senior officials of the foreign ministry told The Daily Star that they asked Bangladesh missions around the Mediterranean region to remain alert to the possibility of Bangladeshis rescued with migrants from other nations.

“So far, we do not have any official or unofficial information other than what we have learnt from the media,” said Shahdat Hossain, Bangladesh ambassador to Italy, over the phone.

Meanwhile, ASM Ashraful Islam, counsellor (labour wing) at the Bangladesh embassy in Tripoli, claimed that no Bangladeshi had been found there.

However, foreign ministry officials and the mission officials said it would take time to ascertain whether any Bangladeshi was there among those rescued.