By Ashraf Abdul Wahab.
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Tripoli, 12 July 2014:
Twelve unidentified decomposing bodies were found on the beach in Tajoura on Thursday and Friday. The . . .[restrict]find may be connected to the discovery of an abandoned fishing boat on Thursday.
According to the mayor of Tajoura, Hussein Al-Zarouq, the corpses were transferred to Tripoli Medical Centre.
Zarouq told LANA that he believed that the bodies were most likely those of illegal migrants en route to Europe. There is concern, he said, that a boat found two days ago, on which the suspected refugees may have been travelling, was contaminated with some contagious diseases. He did not explain but said there had been local pressure for precautions to be put in place to stop the spread of any contagion.
He called on the Ministry of Health and the Libyan Red Crescent to “take necessary measures”.
He also pointed to his municipality’s lack of adequate resources—such as body bags, morgues and vehicles to transport the bodies.
The Red Crescent responded by sending a team of volunteers to the beach to properly search the boat and transport the bodies from the beach to the hospital. [/restrict]
