150 illegal migrants rescued off Libya over past week: IOM

TRIPOLI, May 9 (NNN-XINHUA) — The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that 150 migrants were rescued and returned to Libya in the past week. “In the period of April 30 – May 6, 150 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya,” IOM said in a Monday statement.

Three bodies of illegal migrants were recovered off the Libyan shore over the past week, noted the statement.

So far this year, a total of 4,969 illegal migrants have been rescued and returned to Libya, the organization said, adding that 532 illegal migrants died and 315 others went missing off the Libyan coast on the central Mediterranean route.

Due to the instability and chaos in the country since the fall of late leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, many migrants, mostly Africans, choose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya.

— NNN-XINHUA