(Renata Brito/AP)CAIRO — More than 160 migrants drowned in two separate shipwrecks off Libya over past week, a United Nations migration official said Tuesday. The fatalities were the latest disasters in the Mediterranean Sea involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe. Around 31,500 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya in 2021, compared to nearly 11,900 migrants the previous year, according to the IOM. The abuse often accompanies efforts to extort money from families before migrants are allowed to leave Libya on traffickers' boats. U.N.-commissioned investigators said in October that abuse and ill treatment of migrants in Libya could amount to crimes against humanity.

Source: Libya Today December 21, 2021 11:31 UTC