Dozens dead or missing after irregular migrants' boat capsizes off Libya, says UN migration agency

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday that 53 irregular migrants, including two babies, are dead or missing after a rubber boat capsized off the coast of Libya.

The boat, which was carrying 55 migrants, overturned north of Zuwara, Libya, on Friday, with only two Nigerian women rescued during a search-and-rescue operation by Libyan authorities, a spokesperson for the UN agency said in a statement.

According to the statement, one survivor reported losing her husband, while the other said she lost her two babies in the tragedy.

"IOM mourns the loss of life in yet another deadly incident along the Central Mediterranean route," the statement said, adding that the agency teams provided the two survivors with emergency medical care upon disembarkation, in coordination with relevant authorities.

According to survivor accounts, the boat -- carrying migrants and refugees of African nationalities -- departed from Al-Zawiya, Libya, at around 11 pm (2100GMT) on Feb. 5, and it capsized approximately six hours later.

IOM data show that in January alone, at least 375 migrants were reported dead or missing following multiple "invisible" shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean amid extreme weather, with hundreds more deaths believed to be unrecorded.

According to IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, more than 1,300 migrants have gone missing in the Central Mediterranean in 2025.

Meanwhile, the latest incident brings the number of migrants reported dead or missing on the route in 2026 to at least 484.