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The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday that 124 illegal immigrants have been rescued off the western coast of Libya.
“A total of 124 refugees and immigrants were intercepted or rescued yesterday (Thursday) by the Libyan Coast Guard aboard a rubber boat off Libya,” UNHCR said in a statement.
“UNHCR and its medical partner, the International Rescue Committee, provided humanitarian assistance and medical care to the survivors, who embarked from Al Khums (in western Libya). The survivors were from Mali, Ghana and Sudan,” he added .
UNHCR estimated that more than 8,300 migrants have so far been returned to Libya.
After the fall of the government of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been affected by a state of insecurity and chaos that leads thousands of illegal immigrants to try to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe.
Many illegal immigrants, who were rescued at sea or arrested by authorities, remain detained in overcrowded reception centers in Libya despite repeated international calls to close those centers.
