15 March 2018•Update: 16 March 2018
By Waleed Abdullah
TRIPOLI, Libya
Libyan naval forces on Thursday announced the rescue of 121 undocumented migrants who were found aboard a life raft off the coast of the Abu-Kammash border area with Tunisia.
The migrants, including one child and 24 women, were discovered at sea on Wednesday roughly 25 kilometers north of Abu-Kammash, the navy said in a statement.
Of different African nationalities, they were taken to a naval base in Tripoli for medical treatment before being handed over to Libya’s anti-illegal immigration agency.
In recent years, Libya’s northern coast has become a hub for illegal immigration to Europe.
More than 150,000 would-be migrants are estimated to have made the perilous sea journey from Libya to the coast of Italy within the last three years alone.
