(Reuters) – The International Organization for Migration announced on Friday that a mass grave containing the bodies of at least 65 migrants has been found in southwest Libya. The circumstances surrounding the migrants’ deaths and their nationalities remain unknown, but it is believed that they perished while being smuggled through the desert.
In the aftermath of the NATO-backed uprising that led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has become a key transit route for migrants seeking to escape conflict and poverty in their home countries and make the dangerous journey to Europe across the Mediterranean.
A post on social media platform X by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the interior ministry in Tripoli included drone footage of a desert area where the mass grave was discovered. The footage showed white markings and yellow tape surrounding the bodies, each with assigned numbers. The CID indicated that the bodies were found in al-Jahriya valley in Al Shuwairf town, approximately 421 km south of Tripoli.
While the authenticity of the footage has not been independently verified by Reuters, the CID reported that after collecting DNA samples, all the bodies were interred in a cemetery as per instructions from the attorney general of the appeals chamber in Gharyan town.
According to the IOM, a total of 3,129 deaths and disappearances of migrants were documented along the Mediterranean route in 2023, which is considered to be one of the most perilous migratory paths in the world. The lack of safe and legal migration channels is cited as a contributing factor to the ongoing tragedies along this route.
The IOM has called for increased cooperation among governments and authorities along the migration route to ensure the safety and protection of migrants. It emphasized the importance of establishing regular pathways for legal migration to prevent such incidents from recurring.
Official U.N. data indicates that Libya is currently home to over 704,000 migrants hailing from more than 43 different countries. This figure was compiled from information gathered in 100 Libyan municipalities in the middle of 2023.
(Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Editing by Hugh Lawson, William Maclean)
