Tripoli, (WN) -More than 70 Somali immigrants died when a boat carrying more than 90 migrants capsized in the Mediterranean, .
Ahmed Gedi, a Somalilander living in Libyan Capital, Tripoli who met one of the survivors has told Hadhwanaagnews that more than seventy Somalilanders died after their boat capsized off the Libyan coast on Saturday night, adding that the incident is being investigated by officers.
“The boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea on Saturday night and all the victims belonged to Somaliland”, Ahmed Gedi tells Hadhwanaagnews reporter by telephone.
Ahmed Gedi who met one of the survivors by the name of Mohamed Hassan has also told Hadhwanaagnews that the boat was carrying more than ninety Somalilanders where 23 of them were rescued.
“The boat left the Libyan coast on Saturday night (August 30) carrying more than 90 Somaliland immigrants including 17 women and capsized off the Libyan coast where 23 of them were rescued” Ahmed Gedi tells Hadhwanaagnews reporter.
“The boat capsized in the Libyan territory, which is why the reason of the incident is yet to be ascertained not be known yet,” Gedi added.
It is not the first time that a boat carrying Somalilanders capsize in the Mediterranean Sea, but it is the first time that a large number of Somaliland immigrants die in the Mediterranean Sea.
At this time of year, when the Mediterranean tends to be calmer, vessels carrying migrants from Africa and the Middle East land on Italy’s southern shores almost every day, but often the vessels are overcrowded and are not seaworthy.
Libya has grown increasingly lawless since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, making it a migration hub for sub-Saharan Africans.