In its Libya Weekly Central Mediterranean Update published last Monday 14 July, the UN’s IOM reported that, up to 12 July, a total of 12,338 migrants were intercepted at sea and returned to Libya.
Of this total, 10,653 were men, 1,136 were women and 404 were children (145 with had no gender data). There were 317 deaths and 286 reported missing.
These are migrants, mostly sub-Saharan Africans, who had set off from the Libyan coast heading for the southern Mediterranean shores. This is mostly the Italian southern coast and more often than not the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa. The shortest distance between the Libyan coast and Lampedusa is 300 km – a fact that migrants know and exploit.
2024
In comparison, in 2024, 21,762 were intercepted and returned to Libya with 665 deaths and 1,034 reported as missing.
2023
In 2023, the IOM reported, 17,190 were intercepted and returned to Libya and there were 962 deaths and 1,536 reported as missing.
