Libya: Dozens of People Missing at Sea

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/world/middleeast/libya-dozens-of-people-missing-at-sea.html

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More than 100 people are missing after their vessel sank off Libya’s coast as they tried to cross the Mediterranean, and about 30 bodies have already washed up on the shore, local Libyan authorities said Monday. The vessel went down over the weekend near the town of Zuwarah, west of Tripoli. About 70 of the migrants on board, mostly from Syria and sub-Saharan Africa, have been rescued, the authorities said. But survivors said the vessel was carrying more than 250 migrants who were hoping to make it to Europe, a local official said. Libya, whose fragile national government has been unable to impose its authority on large parts of the country, has become an increasingly common takeoff point for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. The United Nations said in August that nearly 2,000 people fleeing Africa and the Middle East had drowned in the Mediterranean this year.