At least 41 people drowned when a boat capsized in the Central Mediterranean off Libya’s coast on February 20, the UN’s refugee and migration agencies said on Wednesday.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) team in Sicily said it had gathered testimonies from survivors about the shipwreck that took place two days after a dinghy with 120 people left Libya on February 18.
The people on board included six women, one of whom was pregnant, and four children, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UNHCR said in a joint statement.
The agencies are currently waiting for 77 survivors to be disembarked from a commercial vessel, Vos Triton, in the Sicilian port of Porto Empedocle.
According to data collected by the IOM, more than 3580 people were intercepted at sea and returned to Libya so far this year.
