The International Organization for Migrants (IOM) reported on Monday that 53 migrants, including 2 babies, are dead or missing following a rubber-boat capsize off the coast Libya.

IOM, citing survivors, said that the boat left Zawiya Thursday and then flipped off Zuwara Friday. Zawiya is a coastal town west of Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

Only two Nigerian women have been rescued by the Libyan authorities during a rescue operation. The IOM reported that one survivor lost her husband and the other, her two children.

According to the United Nations agency, more than 1,300 migrants are missing in the Central Mediterranean by 2025.

At least 375 migrants have been reported missing or dead in the region following multiple "invisible shipwrecks" amid extreme weather conditions.

The agency reported that the latest incident brought the total number of migrants who have been reported missing or dead on the route by 2026 up to at least 484.

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At least 21 bodies

According to two sources, up to 10 survivors of the group showed signs of torture before being released from captivity.

Two days later, two more security sources confirmed that Libyan security authorities

More than 200 migrants are now free

After being held inhumanely captive, they were released from what they called a "secret prison" in the town Kufra located in the south-east of the country.

Libya has been a

Transit route for migrants

Since the NATO-backed 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gadhafi, refugees have been fleeing poverty and conflict to Europe via dangerous routes over the Mediterranean and across the desert.

At a U.N. gathering in Geneva, in November, several states, including Britain and Spain, as well as Norway and Sierra Leone, called on Libya to close the detention centers where, according to rights groups, migrants and refugees were tortured, abused, and even killed.

(source: Reuters)