The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported Wednesday that at least 42 migrants and refugees are missing and presumed dead after a rubber boat capsized off Libya’s coast, bringing the Central Mediterranean death toll past 1,000 for 2025 alone—the deadliest migration corridor worldwide.
The vessel, carrying 49 people (47 men and two women) from Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, and Cameroon, departed Zuwara in northwest Libya around 3:00 AM on November 3. Roughly six hours later, high waves caused engine failure near Al Buri Oil Field, capsizing the boat and throwing all passengers overboard. The craft drifted for six days until Libyan authorities rescued seven survivors—four Sudanese, two Nigerians, and one Cameroonian—on November 8.
Over 1,000 lives lost on the Central Mediterranean this year.
IOM mourns yet another tragedy off Libya’s coast, where only 7 survived after a boat carrying 49 migrants capsized near Al Buri Oil Field.
Every life lost is one too many. https://t.co/YPAgAPzV9P
— IOM Spokesperson (@IOMSpokesperson) November 12, 2025
IOM teams provided immediate emergency medical care, water, and food to the survivors upon arrival in Tripoli, where they are stable despite sunburn and seawater irritation. The missing include 29 Sudanese, eight Somalis, three Cameroonians, and two Nigerians.
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“This tragedy, coming weeks after deadly incidents off Surman, Libya, and Lampedusa, Italy, underscores the urgent need for strengthened regional cooperation, expanded safe migration pathways, and more effective search-and-rescue operations to prevent further loss of life,” IOM stated. IOM upholds that humane, orderly migration benefits both “people on the move” and societies.
Since IOM’s Missing Migrants Project launched in 2014, over 25,600 lives have been lost on this route—spanning North Africa to Italy—due to lengthy journeys, dangerous smuggling, search-and-rescue gaps, NGO restrictions, and unseaworthy, overloaded inflatables. Recent cases include October’s 18 deaths off al-Zawiya and September’s 50 off Libya.
IOM calls on all stakeholders to prioritize safe alternatives and bolster maritime safety to end this humanitarian crisis.
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