The UN migration agency on Monday said 53 people were dead or missing after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast. The International Organization for Migration said the boat overturned north of Zuwara on Friday, in the latest disaster involving migrants attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing in the hope of reaching Europe. “According to survivor accounts, the boat -- carrying migrants and refugees of African nationalities departed from Al-Zawiya, Libya, at around 11:00 pm on February 5. Between the start of 2014 and the end of 2025, more than 33,000 migrants died or went missing in the Mediterranean, according to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project. Last year, it recorded 1,873 missing or dead in the Mediterranean, including 1,342 on the central route.
