The International Organization for Migration has announced that 61 irregular migrants, including women and children, were killed following a "tragic" drowning of their boat off the Libyan coast, according to a post by its Libyan office on Twitter last Saturday.
Survivors reported to the organization that the boat, carrying around 86 people, had left from the Libyan city of Zuwarah heading towards the northern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.
According to the Italian media, 25 survivors of the capsizing were transported to the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration's Mediterranean Coordination Office, stated that "unfortunately, this dramatic number reveals that not enough has been done to save lives at sea."
He added that more than 2,250 people have lost their lives in the central part of the Mediterranean this year, while last year saw the death of 1,377 migrants in the same area, according to United Nations data.
Recently, the Mediterranean area between Italy, Malta, and Libya has been witnessing recurring drowning incidents involving boats carrying irregular migrants attempting to cross from Africa to Europe.
