886 illegal migrants rescued off Libyan coast

The International Organisation for Migration has said that 886 illegal migrants have been rescued and returned to Libya in the past week.

"In the period of November 21 - November 27, 886 migrants were rescued/intercepted at sea and returned to Libya," the UN agency said on Monday.

So far in 2021, a total of 30,990 illegal migrants, including women and children, have been rescued, while 506 died and 807 went missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean route, it said.

Many illegal migrants, mostly Africans, choose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya, given the state of chaos and insecurity that plagued the country since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Xinhua news agency reported.

Rescued migrants end up inside overcrowded reception centers across Libya, despite repeated international calls to close those centres. -IANS