The bodies of more than 100 migrants and refugees whose boat capsized while trying to cross from North Africa to Europe washed ashore along northwestern Libya’s Mediterranean coast on Friday.
At least 40 of the 107 victims found on beaches near the Libyan city of Zuwarah — about 30 miles from Libya’s border with Tunisia — were women and five of them were children.
Mohammed al-Mosrati, a spokesman for Libya’s Red Crescent organization, told The Associated Press that the condition of the bodies suggests they were not “decomposed and therefore have drowned within the past 48 hours,” and that all but a few were from African countries.
Mr. al-Mosrati said a migrant boat that capsized off Libya on Wednesday may have been carrying the migrants who perished, but that strong wind and current could have carried the bodies across significant distance, making it difficult to known for sure where they came from.
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