Libyan aid workers rescue 7 migrants, recover 17 bodies from stranded vessel

TRIPOLI — The Libyan Red Crescent has said that a patrol boat has recovered 17 bodies and rescued seven people during an operation to assist a stranded vessel off the North African coast. At least ‌17 migrants died and nine are missing after their boat broke down and drifted for eight days in the Mediterranean Sea, Libyan security sources said on Wednesday. The ⁠security sources said they expected ‌the bodies of ‌the nine missing migrants to wash ashore in the ‌next few days. Pictures posted on the ‌Internet by the Red Crescent showed the volunteers placing the bodies in black plastic bags and loading them into the back of pick-up ‌vehicles. The The Libyan Red Crescent shared photos on its Facebook page showing aid workers hauling black body bags from a boat. Aid workers described the rescue operation as one of their most arduous field missions to date after eight hours of continuous work in challenging conditions. The Red Crescent did not give information about the nationalities of those killed or those rescued, but said it provided humanitarian assistance to survivors along with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “After eight days of distress, the Almarqab patrol boat, attached to the naval base, successfully rescued a stranded vessel. The operation resulted in the rescue of seven survivors and the recovery of 17 bodies,” the Red Crescent said in a statement. The Red Crescent, navy personnel, the coastguard and coastal security units mobilised for the rescue, which involved “over eight-hour operation of continuous work conducted under challenging conditions,” it added. The Red Crescent said in a statement that the volunteers in cooperation with naval forces and coast guards of the Libyan National Army rescued seven survivors ‌during recovery ‌operations off Tobruk city in eastern ‌Libya, ⁠near the border ⁠with Egypt. With Italy around 300 kilometers away, Libya has become a key launchpad for tens of thousands of migrants, many of them from sub-Saharan Africa, who risk their lives at sea trying to reach Europe each year in the hope of escaping conflict and poverty. On Tuesday, the country’s attorney general said Tripoli Criminal Court sentenced four ⁠members ⁠of a “criminal gang” in Zuwara, western Libya, to up to 22 years jail for human trafficking, abductions for ransom and torture. In a separate case, the Public Prosecutor’s Office ordered on Monday the arrest of another gang that allegedly sent migrants from Tobruk on a dilapidated boat that capsized, resulting in the death of 38 Sudanese, Egyptian, and Ethiopian nationals, according to the attorney general. — Agencies