3 suspects arrested over shipwreck off Libyan coast
Xinhua, August 30, 2015 Adjust font size:
Three suspects were arrested in Libya on Saturday over possible involvement in recent migrant crises that nearly killed 200 people, according to a statement of Tripoli's Special Intervention Squad.
The statement said that an organized crime group of three members have been arrested. The group is involved in human trafficking and has managed many migrant boats to Europe through the Mediterranean.
The three suspects are detained in Zuwarah for investigation for now.
Nearly 200 illegal immigrants are feared dead on Thursday off Libya's Zuwarah coast when a boat overcrowded with 400 people sank on its way to Europe.
Eighty-two bodies have washed ashore, while almost 100 people are still missing, a Libyan coast guard said, adding that the immigrants on board are from Southern Sahara, Pakistan, Morocco, Syria, and Bangladesh.
Due to the power vacuum and state of chaos since the fall of its former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has become a preferred point of transit for illegal immigrants who want to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that around 150,000 migrants have reached Europe by sea by mid-July in 2015, many of whom departed from Libya. Endit