At least four people died after two overcrowded migrant boats capsized off Libya’s coast on Saturday, rescue workers said, marking the latest tragedy along one of the world’s deadliest migration routes. The Libyan Red Crescent confirmed the four deaths among 26 Bangladeshi nationals traveling on one of the vessels, which sank shortly after leaving the port city of Al Khums in northwestern Libya.
Authorities said a second boat carrying roughly 70 migrants, most of them from Sudan, also capsized, but it remained unclear whether additional fatalities occurred. The two vessels were navigating the central Mediterranean route between North Africa and Italy, a passage the U.N. International Organization for Migration describes as the deadliest known migration corridor globally.
The Red Crescent released images showing its rescue teams assisting survivors onshore and black body bags laid out as recovery efforts continued. The organization did not immediately provide further details on the condition of those pulled from the water.
Hundreds die each year attempting the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean in overcrowded and unseaworthy boats. More than 1,500 people have died or gone missing in 2025 so far, according to IOM data, with roughly a third of those deaths occurring off Libya’s coast. The North African country has been the departure point for most of the nearly 59,000 people who have reached Europe this year via the central Mediterranean route, according to Frontex, the European Union’s border security agency.
The incident follows another deadly episode earlier in the week, when dozens of migrants who departed Libya aboard a small boat were reported missing and presumed dead after it capsized. Seven survivors from Sudan, Somalia, Cameroon and Nigeria were rescued after drifting at sea for nearly a week.
