Bodies of 28 migrants wash ashore on Libya's coast

The Libyan Red Crescent teams have recovered the corpses of 28 migrants after a shipwreck.  On Sunday, December 26, a security official confirmed three survivors were found on the beaches of Al-Alous  some 90 kilometres from Tripoli .

On the sand of the Al-Alous beach,  on the Western coast of Libya, the corpses of 28 migrants have washed up.  A security official announced on Sunday that the bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition suggesting the shipwreck happened several days ago.  If 3 survivors were found, the death toll might continue to rise in the coming hours. 

At the hospital of Khoms where the bodies were refrigerated, Osama Jumaa Al-Saket, the general director,  regrets the situation:  "The refrigerator of the Khoms hospital can deal with fresh corpses, but decomposing corpses are difficult to store in the refrigerator and difficult to work with. Now the bodies are in the refrigerator, and God willing, they (bodies) will be shown to the coroner tomorrow."

According to the International Organization for Migration, the central Mediterranean route transiting through Libya has claimed the lives of 1,500 migrants this year, making it one the world's deadliest migration route.

The European Union has been cooperating with the Libyan Coast Guard to cut numbers of migrants arriving on European shores.