At least 53 migrants, including two babies, are feared dead or missing after a rubber boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, the International Organization for Migration said on Monday, February 9, 2026.
Only two survivors, both Nigerian women, were rescued by Libyan authorities. One woman reported losing her husband, while the other said her two babies had died. IOM teams provided emergency medical care to both survivors.
The boat was carrying migrants and refugees from several African countries. It departed at around 23:00 local time from al-Zawiya in north-western Libya and began taking on water roughly six hours later, before capsizing in the early hours of Friday, February 6, north of Zuwara.
IOM said nearly 500 migrants have been reported dead or missing so far in 2026 while attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya. In January alone, at least 375 migrants were reported dead or missing following a series of largely unreported shipwrecks during severe winter weather. The true toll is believed to be higher.
Libya has remained a major departure point for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa trying to reach Europe since the killing of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Many boats that sink are never reported, leaving victims unaccounted for and families without answers.
UN human rights officials have warned that migrants in Libya face torture, trafficking, forced labour, extortion and other abuses by both state and non-state actors, including militias. IOM said smuggling and trafficking networks continue to profit by forcing people onto overcrowded and unseaworthy vessels.
The agency has called for stronger international cooperation to dismantle trafficking networks and for the creation of safe, legal migration pathways to reduce deaths at sea. Several countries, including the UK, Spain, Norway and Sierra Leone, have urged Libya to shut down detention centres where migrants are reported to have been abused or killed.
