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Benghazi - The bodies of at least 95 migrants have been found washed ashore in Libya over the past five days, a spokesperson for Libya's Red Crescent said on Sunday.
Mohamed al-Masrati said Red Crescent scouts found 85 of the corpses near Libya's capital Tripoli and 10 near Sabartha, a Libyan coastal city that is a main launching point for smugglers' boats headed to Europe. He says most of the deceased are migrants from other African countries and search efforts continue.
Thousands of migrants seeking a better life in Europe cast off from Libya on rickety boats, hoping to reach Italy. The International Organisation for Migration says that more than 2 600 migrants have died in 2015 so far on the Central Mediterranean route that includes Libya.
Smugglers have exploited Libya's internal turmoil to ship thousands of desperate migrants into the Mediterranean.
At the same time, the number of Libyans displaced by the fighting continues to rise.
"Up to today there are more than 550 000 internally displaced people in Libya due to the current conflict in Benghazi and other places, and we believe this number will increase to at least 600 000," said al-Masrati.
The UN is pressing Libya's rival governments to form a national unity government. Meanwhile the UN says an estimated 2.44 million people in Libya — nearly 40% of the country's population — are in need of protection and some form of humanitarian assistance.
