At least 57 bodies were washed up after two migrant boats sank in the Mediterranean, off different towns in western Libya, a Libyan coast guard and an aid worker said on Tuesday.
One of the survivors, Bassam Mahmoud of Egypt, said there were about 80 passengers on one of the boats, which set off for Europe at around 2 am on Tuesday.
He said the argument was over the sinking of the boat, but the official refused to stop.
“We kept fighting until someone caught up with us. It was a terrible scene and some died (in the water) in front of me,” he told Reuters.
Coast Guard officer Fathi Al-Zayani stated that 11 bodies, including a child, were found off the coast of Garabulli, east of Tripoli, and noted that the migrants were from Pakistan, Syria, Tunisia and Egypt.
A Red Crescent aid worker in Sabratha, west of Tripoli, also said they had removed 46 bodies from the beach in the past six days, all of them “illegal immigrants” from a boat.
The Red Crescent in Sabratha posted photos online showing corpses in black bags piled in the back of pickup trucks by aid workers wearing masks and gloves.
