53 people dead or missing after migrant boat capsizes in Mediterranean

The boat tragically sank around six hours after leaving the Libyan coastal city of al-Zawiya, with just two Nigerian women being rescued out of everyone on board

A rubber boat carrying 55 people, including two babies, capsized off Libya – leaving 53 either dead or missing, the UN has said.

Only two Nigerian women survived and were rescued by Libyan authorities on Friday, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) confirmed. The vessel sank about six hours after leaving the coastal city of al-Zawiya, northwest of Tripoli, carrying migrants and refugees from across Africa.

One survivor said she lost her husband, and the other said her two babies died. Both received emergency medical care from IOM teams. So far in 2026, almost 500 migrants have been reported dead or missing trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya.

In January alone, at least 375 were reported dead or missing in “invisible” shipwrecks during severe winter storms.

Libya has become a key departure point for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa trying to reach Europe since the death of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The IOM says traffickers profit by forcing people onto overcrowded, unsafe boats. Many vessels that sink are never reported, leaving families in the dark about the fate of their loved ones.

UN rights officials say conditions for migrants in Libya are dire, with widespread torture, trafficking, forced labour and abuse by both militias and state authorities.

Countries including the UK, Spain, Norway and Sierra Leone have called on Libya to close detention centres where such abuses take place.

In the UK, a total of 41,472 migrants arrived in 2025 after crossing the English Channel – the second highest annual figure on record. It means the overall number of arrivals last year finished 9% below the all-time high of 45,774 in 2022.

The total for 2025 was 13% higher than the figure for 2024, when 36,816 migrants made the journey, and 41% higher than 2023’s total of 29,437.

For much of last year, the number of arrivals was running at the highest level since data on Channel crossings was first published in 2018.

The Government faced increasing pressure in 2025 to tackle the number of migrants making the hazardous journey across the Channel, having won the general election in July 2024 vowing to “smash the gangs” of people-smugglers that organise the crossings.

Nearly 65,000 migrants have arrived in the country by small boat since Labour came to power. The UK’s Border Security Commander, Martin Hewitt, tasked with curbing Channel crossings, told MPs in October that the number of arrivals in 2025 is “frustrating” but that work to stop the smuggling route was “always going to take time”.

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