Fifty-three migrants, including two infants, are presumed dead after an inflatable boat capsized off Libya’s western coast in early February. Only two survivors were recovered. Rights monitors say the tragedy reflects more than a failed boat—it reflects a system that accepts death and severe human rights violations, including trafficking, as the price of keeping migrants out.

A deadly crossing off Libya’s coast

An inflatable boat carrying around 55 migrants from African countries departed from Libya on the evening of 5 February. It traveled for about six hours. Then water began leaking into the hull. The vessel capsized off Libya’s coast.

Libyan search-and-rescue teams recovered only two survivors. Authorities and local sources reported that 53 others remain missing and are presumed dead.

Deaths along the Mediterranean route continue to mount. Data from the Missing Migrants Project of the International Organization for Migration shows that 1,873 migrants and asylum seekers died or disappeared along the Western, Central, and Eastern Mediterranean routes in 2025. From the start of 2026 through 5 February, another 524 people were reported missing or dead.

These numbers are not isolated spikes. They follow years of tightened border enforcement and shrinking legal routes for asylum.

Rescue restricted, solidarity criminalized

International law requires states to assist people in distress at sea.

Yet, as Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports,

This incident is linked to the wider European policies that facilitate militarised migration governance in the Mediterranean and restrict humanitarian work. These policies involve limiting rescue activities by NGOs, criminalising acts of solidarity, and backing coast guards in dangerous transit countries like Libya. This support enables intercepting migrants and forcibly sending them back to detention centres, which often violate basic humanitarian standards and are known for serious documented abuses.

Earlier this month, at least 15 migrants died near the Greek island of Chios after a collision between a migrant boat and a Greek Coast Guard patrol vessel. Authorities said the migrant boat ignored warnings and that the migrants drowned after falling into the water following the collision. However, developments in the story throw some doubts on their account. Survivors report the Coast Guard issued no warnings or communication before impact. More alarmingly, preliminary autopsy reports list cause of death for only one person as drowning. The rest died due to “severe cranial and brain injuries.” Some survivors, including children, also have severe injuries.

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