66 Bangladeshis rescued off Libyan coast
Friday, 3 April 2009
At least 66 Bangladeshis were among 350 people rescued from a boat off the Libyan coast, the Tripoli Post reported Thursday, according to bdnews24.com.
The boat was rescued by Libyan coastguards with 17 very sick people who were immediately taken to a hospital in Tripoli.
The incident occurred 30 miles off the north African coast near the Buri oil platform.
The paper, quoting the International Organisation for Migration, said the nationalities of those rescued were: Bangladesh 66, Somalia 44, Eritrea 18, Ghana 33, Egypt 55, Tunisia 25, Algeria 7, Morocco 15, Nigeria 30, Syria 19, India 5 and Pakistan 2.
Another boat reportedly went down with 200 people on board Tuesday night.
Libyan authorities said Wednesday they had recovered 100 bodies from the latter boat, and some 21 were rescued.
The sunken boat was not fit for sailing, the survivors said. Those who survived were able to swim and used wreckage to float back to the coast.
They may have been heading for Italy.
One of the two boats reportedly sent an SOS, which was detected by the Italian coast guard and conveyed to the Libyans.
The point of departure of the two boats is unknown.
The survivors told Libyan investigators that they could not exactly say from what point on the Libyan coast they departed as it was night.
The boat was rescued by Libyan coastguards with 17 very sick people who were immediately taken to a hospital in Tripoli.
The incident occurred 30 miles off the north African coast near the Buri oil platform.
The paper, quoting the International Organisation for Migration, said the nationalities of those rescued were: Bangladesh 66, Somalia 44, Eritrea 18, Ghana 33, Egypt 55, Tunisia 25, Algeria 7, Morocco 15, Nigeria 30, Syria 19, India 5 and Pakistan 2.
Another boat reportedly went down with 200 people on board Tuesday night.
Libyan authorities said Wednesday they had recovered 100 bodies from the latter boat, and some 21 were rescued.
The sunken boat was not fit for sailing, the survivors said. Those who survived were able to swim and used wreckage to float back to the coast.
They may have been heading for Italy.
One of the two boats reportedly sent an SOS, which was detected by the Italian coast guard and conveyed to the Libyans.
The point of departure of the two boats is unknown.
The survivors told Libyan investigators that they could not exactly say from what point on the Libyan coast they departed as it was night.