Libya migrant centres near breaking point after spike in arrivals

The number of migrants in Libya’s overcrowded detention centres has almost doubled over the past three months, according to the UN’s migration agency.
Amid a crackdown on Mediterranean crossings by Italy and EU-backed Libyan coastguard, the number of people being held has swollen from 5,000 to 9,300, with thousands more at the mercy of smugglers in charge of unofficial detention facilities, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

The figures were revealed as one group accused the Libyan coastguard of failing to assist with the rescue of three people in the Mediterranean, after intercepting a boat carrying 160 people bound near Libya’s coastline. Proactiva Open Arms, a Spanish search and rescue organisation, said it had found one woman alive and another dead, alongside the body of a toddler, amid the drifting remains of a destroyed migrant boat.

Two weeks ago, more than 200 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean in three days, taking the death toll this year to more than 1,000 and sparking fears that smugglers are taking greater risks with the lives of those trying to reach Europe. Othman Belbeisi, the chief of mission in Libya at the IOM, said the situation has never looked so bleak. The growing number of migrants intercepted by the coastguard had led to overcrowding in detention centres, he said.