At least 15 people drowned when their boat capsized off Libya, the second shipwreck in just more than a week involving people undertaking a dangerous sea journey in the hope of seeking a better life in Europe.

At least 41 migrants are feared dead following a weekend shipwreck on the Mediterranean Sea route from Libya to Italy, two United Nations agencies said Wednesday.

Libyan authorities say they have raided a secret prison in a southeastern city used by human traffickers and freed at last 156 African migrants – including 15 women and five children.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed that there are more than 278,000 internally displaced people still in Libya, notwithstanding the ceasefire.

The British Guardian reported that in 2020, as a result of the conflict, a depleted economy and the rapid spread of Covid-19, more Libyan natives are boarding unsteady boats to leave their home country for European shores than ever before.

Libyan irregular (illegal) migrants arriving in Italy by sea totalled 582 over the last two years, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed to Libya Herald.

Amid the economic backlash of the coronavirus pandemic, vulnerable communities in the North African region have increasingly fallen prey to criminal gangs, finding themselves trapped between unemployment and the risk of exploitation in countries located along trafficking routes. 

Nearly 1,000 people fleeing to Europe by boat from Libya were stopped and sent back to shore this week. People seeking to cross the Mediterranean continue to risk death if they are not stopped by Libyan authorities.

On 1 January, Frontex, the European Union’s border force, tweeted a video celebrating their work in 2020 – a photo montage of masked border guards in bullet proof vests, with a caption boasting “the lowest number of illegal border crossings since 2013”.

Various NGOs and human rights associations are calling on the Italian parliament to revoke the agreement between Italy and Libya on the management of migrant flows, four years after its signing.