Libya MP warns of mounting migrant deaths in the sea

Yousef Al-Aqouri, a member of parliament, has expressed on Thursday his “deep regret and sadness” over increase of migrants deaths off Libya’s shores.

Al-Aqouri, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged on the Libyan Coast Guard to make “more efforts to respond to all distress calls”.

He accused human traffickers of being responsible for the death of migrants as they are “taking advantage of the difficult conditions that migrants are going through in order to make money at the expense of their suffering.”

The MP called for “combating human smuggling networks” and “enhancing the capabilities of Libyan agencies to perform search and rescue operation”.

He stressed the importance of joint action with neighboring countries, especially the European Union, in order to improve security on the Libyan borders.