Bodies of 27 migrants wash ashore in Libya

The bodies of 27 Europe-bound migrants, including a baby and two women, have washed ashore in western Libya, the country’s Red Crescent said.

The bodies were found late Saturday in two separate locations in the coastal town of Khoms, the Red Crescent’s branch there said. Three other migrants were rescued, and search efforts were underway for others, it said.

The Red Crescent, a Muslim organization equivalent to the Red Cross, posted images purporting to show bodies floating in the Mediterranean Sea with its workers putting them in black burial bags.

The dead migrants likely drowned in recent shipwrecks off Libya. There has been a surge in crossings and attempted crossings from Libya as authorities accelerated their deadly crackdown on migrants in the capital of Tripoli.

File photo of men working for the Libyan Red Crescent recovering bodies of drowned migrants from under the sand, on the beach in the Alqarbula area, east of the city of Tripoli, Libya. EPA/STR

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