At least 53 migrants, including two babies, are dead or missing after a rubber boat carrying 55 people capsized off the coast of Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday.

The vessel departed from Zawiya on Thursday and overturned near Zuwara on Friday, both coastal towns west of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Only two Nigerian women survived, according to the IOM. One survivor reported losing her husband, while the other lost her two infants.

The IOM highlighted that the latest incident brings the number of migrants reported dead or missing along the Central Mediterranean route in 2026 to at least 484. In 2025, more than 1,300 migrants were reported missing in the region, with hundreds of deaths believed to have gone unrecorded.

In January alone, at least 375 migrants died or went missing during multiple unreported shipwrecks amid extreme weather. The perilous journey is part of a broader migration crisis, as Libya has become a major transit point for those fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe since the 2011 NATO-backed toppling of Muammar Gaddafi.

Earlier this year, mass graves and secret detention centres revealed the extreme dangers migrants face in Libya. In mid-January, at least 21 bodies were found in eastern Libya, with survivors showing signs of torture. A few days later, Libyan authorities freed over 200 migrants from a secret prison in Kufra, held in inhuman conditions.

Human rights groups and several nations, including Britain, Spain, Norway, and Sierra Leone, have repeatedly urged Libya to close detention centres where migrants are abused, tortured, and sometimes killed.