22 migrants including Bangladeshis rescued off Libya coast

Twenty-two migrants, including Bangladeshis, have been rescued after a shipwreck off the Libyan coast on Thursday night. 

Three people also died in the incident. At least 16 other migrants were missing and presumed drowned, reports Al Jazeera quoting a statement from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). 

Two of the deceased are Syrians while the other is a Ghanaian citizen.

The 22 were rescued with the help of the Libyan Coast Guard. Later, they were taken to the Zliten Detention Centre in Libya. Among the rescued people, there are citizens of Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia, Niger, Somalia, Syria and Ghana, IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli said. 

This is the second shipwreck in one month. The IOM had reported 20 people's death after their boat capsized off Libya's coast on September 15.

Libya acts as a major gateway for migrants and refugees hoping to reach Europe.

There are more than 636,000 refugees and migrants currently in Libya, according to the IOM. Fighting in the country endangers them as they wait to cross the sea across one of the deadliest migration routes in the world.

More than 620 people are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe from Africa's shores this year – a dangerous sea journey that has killed at least 20,000 since 2014, according to data gathered by the IOM.

Since 2017, European countries, particularly Italy, have funded and delegated most search-and-rescue responsibility to the Libyan coastguard despite allegations of human trafficking and corruption.

At least 36,000 people have been intercepted and returned to the war-torn North African country, where they endure harrowing conditions and well-documented human rights violations in official and "unofficial" detention centres.

Those who survived Friday's disaster were taken to the Tripoli port, where they received medical care for their burns, a common consequence of leaked engine fuel mixing with saltwater, according to Msehli.

Libya is split between the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) controlling the capital, Tripoli, and the northwest, while renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar controls the east.

Libyan authorities took the survivors of the latest shipwreck to the Zliten detention centre, run by the GNA's interior ministry.

In a report on Thursday, Amnesty International said thousands of people have been forcibly disappeared from unofficial militia-run detention centres and called on the European Union to reconsider its cooperation with Libya over "horrific abuses" being committed against refugees and migrants in the North African country.

"Instead of being protected, they are met with a catalogue of appalling human rights abuses," said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty's deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. "Even in 2020, the EU and its member states continue to implement policies trapping tens of thousands of men, women and children in a vicious cycle of abuse."