61 people found dead in ‘shipwreck’ off Libyan coast, UN agency says

Sixty-one people, including women and children, have drowned following a shipwreck off Libya, a UN agency has said.

The boat originally contained 86 people and left the Libyan shores from Zwara, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

“The central Mediterranean continues to be one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes,” the IOM said in a statement.

According to reports on the AFP news agency, most of the victims of the latest incident were from Nigeria, Gambia, and other African countries.

The IOM say 25 people survived and were transferred to a Libyan detention centre.

Earlier, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said illegal migration threatens to “overwhelm” Europe and hinted a change is needed in international law in order to tackle it.

Speaking to Italian conservatives at an event in Rome, the prime minister said “enemies” could use immigration as a “weapon” by “deliberately driving people to our shores to try to destabilise our society”.

“Criminal gangs will find ever cheaper ways to ply their evil trade,” he added. “They will exploit our humanity.

“They think nothing of putting people’s lives at risk when they put them in these boats at sea.”

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Mr Sunak then hinted at the need to change international law on immigration, telling the crowd at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Atreju political festival: “If we do not tackle this problem, the numbers will only grow.

It comes as some 292 people made a journey across the English Channel in seven boats on Friday, according to Home Office figures published on Saturday.

It was also confirmed a migrant died during an incident on Friday, while another was left in a critical condition.