The bodies of five people were recovered after the sinking off Libya on Wednesday of a boat of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, announced the High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
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According to the UNHCR, 51 other migrants, including women and children, were rescued by a commercial ship before being handed over to the Libyan coast guard. Upon arrival in Tripoli, the survivors were taken to migrant detention centers, the same source added. In the midst of the new coronavirus crisis, Malta and Italy officially closed their ports to migrants, a decision denounced by NGOs defending migrants.
The good weather, however, favors the departure of migrants from Libya, a country torn apart by war and chronic instability since the fall of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Libya is a country of destination and transit to the European coasts for thousands of African migrants. Hundreds of them die every year crossing the Mediterranean to Italy in extreme conditions.