74 bodies of migrants wash ashore in Libya, says Red Crescent

Scores of bodies of African migrants washed ashore in Libya, in the western city of Zawiya on the Mediterranean Sea, a spokesman for the Libyan Red Crescent said on Feb. 21.

The drownings - at least 74 bodies were found in Zawiya - are the latest tragedy at sea after migrant deaths rose to record levels along the Libya-Italy smuggling route over the past months.

Residents of the village of Harcha, outside Zawiya, 45 kilometers (30 miles) from Tripoli, alerted the emergency services after finding a wrecked boat on the beach with bodies inside, the Red Crescent said.

The Red Crescent's spokesman Mohammed al-Misrati told The Associated Press that the bodies were found on the morning of Feb. 20 and that the Red Crescent workers retrieved them between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.

He said that a torn rubber boat was found nearby and that he expected more bodies to surface as such boats usually carry up to 120 people. Earlier, al-Misrati mistakenly told the AP that the bodies surfaced overnight.

Photographs posted by the Zawiya Red Crescent on Facebook showed a long row of black and white body bags lined up near the water's edge.

"We don't have an appropriate vehicle to transport the bodies or a cemetery for unidentified bodies to bury them in," the group said, according to AFP. 

"Some bodies are still on the beach and others that we can't reach are still floating in the water."

Al-Misrati said the local authorities would take the bodies to a cemetery in the capital of Tripoli that is allocated for unidentified persons.

Last week, Fabrice Leggeri, director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, said the Libya-Italy smuggling route across the Mediterranean has seen record numbers of migrant...