(MENAFN) At least four people have died after two migrant boats, carrying nearly 100 passengers, sank off the coast of Libya on Saturday, according to reports from rescue teams.

The confirmed fatalities involved passengers from a boat carrying 26 Bangladeshi nationals. Authorities have not confirmed whether there were additional deaths among the roughly 70 people on the second boat, which included mostly Sudanese migrants.

Both vessels were traveling along the central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy, considered the “deadliest known migration route in the world,” according to international organizations monitoring migration. The boats had departed from Al Khums, a port city in northwestern Libya.

Images shared by humanitarian groups showed aid being administered to survivors and black body bags at the scene. The Mediterranean crossing remains extremely hazardous, with hundreds of deaths recorded annually in overcrowded and unsafe boats.

Data indicates that more than 1,500 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean so far in 2025, with roughly a third of incidents occurring off Libya’s coast. Libya has been the main departure point for nearly 59,000 migrants who reached Europe this year via the central Mediterranean, according to European border authorities.

Earlier this week, another migrant boat from Libya capsized, leaving dozens missing. Seven survivors—originating from Sudan, Somalia, Cameroon, and Nigeria—were rescued after nearly a week lost at sea.

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