Overview
- The UN migration agency said the boat capsized on Friday north of Zuwara after departing from Al-Sawiya in western Libya.
- The two survivors reported that the overcrowded dinghy took on water after roughly six hours at sea and then sank.
- One survivor said she lost her two babies in the waves, while the other reported her husband missing.
- The IOM reports 484 people dead or missing on the central Mediterranean route so far in 2026, after more than 1,300 last year.
- IOM and rights groups call for legal pathways and stronger search-and-rescue operations as they condemn smugglers’ use of unseaworthy, packed boats, particularly during storms.