18 killed, 18 missing as boat capsizes off Libya's west coast

TRIPOLI, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- A total of 18 migrants were killed, 92 rescued and 18 more missing after their boat capsized off Libya's western city of Zawiya early Tuesday morning, Libya's Ambulance and Emergency Service said.

Among the dead were four Egyptian nationals and two from Somalia, it said, adding that search and rescue operations are ongoing to locate the missing ones.

Libya has been a major transit point for migrants trying to reach Europe since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. Smuggling networks have thrived amid political division and insecurity, exposing migrants to harsh conditions in detention centres and repeated Mediterranean shipwrecks and ship fires.

The country remains split between the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity and an eastern administration allied with Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army. ■