Libya says 17 migrants perish at sea, nine missing feared dead

BENGHAZI, April 30 (Reuters) - At ‌least 17 ​migrants ​died and nine are missing after their boat broke down and drifted for eight days in ‌the Mediterranean Sea, Libya's Red Crescent and Libyan ⁠security sources said on Wednesday.

The Red Crescent said in a statement that ‌the volunteers in cooperation ‌with naval forces and coast guards of the Libyan National Army rescued seven survivors during recovery operations off Tobruk ​city in eastern Libya, near the border with Egypt.

Libya is a transit route for migrants, many of ⁠them from sub-Saharan Africa, who risk their lives to flee to Europe across desert ​and sea in the hope of escaping conflict and poverty.

The security sources said they expected ​the bodies of the nine missing ‌migrants to wash ashore in the next few days.

Pictures posted on the internet by the Red ⁠Crescent showed the volunteers placing the bodies in black plastic bags and loading them into the back of pick-up vehicles.

On Tuesday, the ⁠country's attorney general said Tripoli Criminal Court sentenced four members of a "criminal ​gang" in Zuwara, western Libya, to up to 22 years jail for human trafficking, abductions for ransom and torture.

In a separate case, the ‌Public Prosecutor's Office ordered on Monday the arrest of another gang that allegedly sent migrants ‌from Tobruk on a dilapidated boat that capsized, resulting in ⁠the death of 38 ‌Sudanese, Egyptian, and Ethiopian ​nationals, according to the attorney general.

(Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; writing by Ahmed Elumami; Editing by Stephen ‌Coates)

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