{"id":33353,"date":"2026-04-30T07:45:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T05:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=33353"},"modified":"2026-04-30T07:45:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T05:45:42","slug":"libya-announces-17-migrants-perish-at-sea-nine-missing-feared-dead","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/libya-announces-17-migrants-perish-at-sea-nine-missing-feared-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Libya announces 17 migrants perish at sea, nine missing feared dead"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>At least 17 migrants died and nine are missing after their boat broke down and drifted \u200bfor eight days in the Mediterranean Sea, Libya&#8217;s \u200cRed Crescent and Libyan security sources said on Wednesday.<\/div>\n<div id=\"ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Red Crescent said in a statement that the volunteers in co-operation with \u200bnaval forces and coast guards of the Libyan \u200bNational Army rescued seven survivors during recovery operations off Tobruk city \u2060in eastern Libya, near the border with Egypt.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Libya \u200bis a transit route for migrants, many of them from \u200bsub-Saharan Africa, who risk their lives to flee to Europe across desert and sea in the hope of escaping conflict and poverty.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The security \u200bsources said they expected the bodies of the nine missing \u200bmigrants to wash ashore in the next few days.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Pictures posted on \u200cthe \u2060internet by the Red Crescent showed the volunteers placing the bodies in black plastic bags and loading them into the back of pick-up vehicles.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On Tuesday, the country&#8217;s Attorney General said \u200bTripoli Criminal Court sentenced \u200bfour members \u2060of a &#8220;criminal gang&#8221; in Zuwara, western Libya, to up to 22 years jail for \u200bhuman trafficking, abductions for ransom and torture.<\/div>\n<div>\nIn \u200ba separate \u2060case, the Public Prosecutor&#8217;s Office ordered on Monday the arrest of another gang that allegedly sent migrants from Tobruk on a dilapidated boat \u2060that \u200bcapsized, resulting in the death of \u200b38 Sudanese, Egyptian, and Ethiopian nationals, according to the attorney general.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15356,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-33353","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The security \u200bsources said they expected the bodies of the nine missing \u200bmigrants to wash ashore in the next few days.","published_date":"","news_description":"The security \u200bsources said they expected the bodies of the nine missing \u200bmigrants to wash ashore in the next few days.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33354,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33353\/revisions\/33354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}