A BOAT carrying dozens of migrants trying to reach Europe has capsized off the coast of Libya, leaving more than 60 people dead, including women and children, the United Nations migration agency said today.

Saturday’s shipwreck was the latest tragedy involving migrants in this part of the Mediterranean Sea. Thousands have died, according to officials.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said in a statement that the boat had been carrying 86 migrants when strong waves swamped it off the town of Zuwara on Libya’s western coast, leading to 61 migrants drowning.

Posting on social media platform X, the UN agency said: “The central Mediterranean continues to be one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes.”

In recent years, Libya has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East, even after the north African nation plunged into chaos following a Nato military intervention that toppled and killed veteran leader Colonel Muammar Gadaffi in 2011.

More than 2,250 people have died on that route to Europe this year, according to IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo.

It’s “a dramatic figure which demonstrates that, unfortunately, not enough is being done to save lives at sea,” Mr Di Giacomo wrote on X.

According to the IOM missing migrants project, at least 940 migrants were reported dead and 1,248 missing off Libya between January 1 and November 18.

The project, which tracks migration movements, said that about 14,900 migrants, including over 1,000 women and more than 530 children, had been intercepted and returned to Libya this year.

In 2022, the project reported 529 dead and 848 missing off Libya. Over 24,600 were intercepted and returned to Libya.

Human traffickers have in recent years benefited from the chaos in Libya, smuggling in migrants across the country’s lengthy borders, which it shares with six nations.