Three Babies Dead, 100 Missing In Libya Shipwreck

Members of the Libyan security forces carry the bodies of babies as migrants who survived the shipwreck. AFP

Three babies died off the coast of Libya on Friday while 100 people remained missing in the latest Mediterranean migrant shipwreck as European leaders reached a hard-fought deal to tackle the issue.

Around 120 migrants were aboard the inflatable craft when it ran into trouble, according to survivors taken to Al-Hmidiya, east of the capital Tripoli.

Just 16 were rescued, while the missing included two babies and three children under the age of 12.

Survivors who made it back to Libyan soil recounted their ordeal following their pre-dawn departure from Garaboulli, east of Tripoli.

During the journey there was an explosion on board, after which the motor caught fire and the vessel began taking on water, they told AFP.

The passengers included several Moroccan families, none of whom survived, as well as Syrians and Sudanese,.

“When I saw the number of people on the boat, I refused to get on board, because we had been told that we would be 20 (passengers),” said survivor Amri Swileh, from Yemen.

Showing his bruised arms, the 26-year-old said smugglers threatened to shoot him and forced him onto the boat which was just eight metres long.

“I saw people burn. I lost all of my Yemeni friends who were with me. All five of them are missing,” he said.

While there were up to 15 women on board, the 16 rescued passengers were all young men.

Another survivor, Bakari Badi, said early in the journey a man fell into the water and had to climb back onto the overcrowded craft.

“People were saying to the captain to go back to Libya but by then our engine exploded. So many people were wounded,” the 32-year-old Gambian said.