Bodies of 15 migrants, including a woman, wash up on Libyan coast

At least 15 bodies of migrants have washed up on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast in the past week, including a woman, security, navy and hospital sources said. The bodies washed up on the shore after a boat carrying migrants capsized, Reuters reported on Saturday (June 20), citing a navy source.

According to 10 survivors, the boat was carrying about 61 people. The bodies were recovered from various locations off the coast of the city of Tobruk, which borders Egypt.

Two security officials said the bodies were badly decomposed and they feared more bodies could be recovered from the sea. Photos released by the Tobruk Red Crescent showed volunteers wearing white protective clothing retrieving bodies from the rocky shore and storing them in white plastic bags.

Libya has become a major transit route for impoverished people to Europe since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's government in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011. Thousands of migrants make the perilous journey across the desert and the Mediterranean every year in an attempt to reach Europe.

Meanwhile, the Emergency Medical and Support Centre under the Health Ministry based in the capital Tripoli said it had treated 13 migrants after another boat capsized off the coast of the city of Khums. That boat also capsized at sea.