By Taziz Hasairi.
Tripoli, 20 March 2014:
In two separate operations, Tripoli’s Naval Coastguard yesterday rescued 348 migrants trying to reach the shores . . .[restrict]of Europe.
“One of the vessels was an old wooden boat that had 266 people in it,” Navy spokesperson Ayoub Gassem told the Libya Herald. Amongst the passengers, there were 60 women and nine children on board, he said.
The vessel was captured of the coast of Garabulli, some 30 kilometres east of Tripoli, Ghassem said. Most of the migrants of board were from Eritrea, and the captain was Tunisian.
In a separate operation, a second boat was rescued off the coast of Tajoura, on the outskirts of Tripoli. This was a Zodiac-type inflatable vessel carrying 82 men, which had sprung a leak, Gaseem said.
With the dinghy about to sink, the Navy had to transfer all the migrants onto their own vessel. They were sub-Saharan Africans, Ghassem said, mainly from Somalia, Sudan and Egypt.
He added that both vessels were heading for Europe. [/restrict]
