Libyan authorities, citing “lack of naval assets availability," contacted the Rome-based maritime aid coordination center, which sent a satellite message about an emergency to all ships in the area, according to the Italian coast guard statement. For example, many migrants in Libya come from Niger and Chad, two African nations on Libya's southern border, and eventually return to their homelands, he said. Some 105,000 migrants reached Italy by sea in 2022. On Sunday, three more bodies were found from a Feb. 26 shipwreck just offshore the Italian peninsula, raising the known death toll in that disaster to 79 migrants, Italian state TV said. However many migrants actually set out from Libya on smugglers' boats, it "is a worrisome humanitarian flow because people die at sea,'' said IOM spokesperson Di Giacomo.
