A rubber boat carrying migrants has capsized off the Libyan coast, with just seven of its 49 passengers rescued, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday.

The other 42 people who were on board the vessel are missing and presumed dead.

Those rescued spent days adrift

A statement from the IOM said 29 of the missing are from Sudan, eight from Somalia, three from Cameroon and two from Nigeria.

The seven people who were rescued spent six days adrift after the vessel capsized.

According to the UN, four of the survivors came from Sudan, two from Nigeria and one from Cameroon.

Falling numbers of irregular migrants

This comes amid reports that another boat carrying migrants en route from Libya has capsized south of the Greek island of Crete, with at least three people dead and 56 others rescued so far.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), by Sunday nearly 16,000 migrants had arrived in Crete since the start of 2025. 

Hundreds of people die each year while trying to reach Europe by sea from Africa.

The proportion of migrants making the perilous attempt has increased since land routes into the European Union, previously widely used, have been made impracticable by increased surveillance and interceptions.

According to the InfoMigrants website, irregular migrant arrivals into the European Union have, however, been steadily declining since 2024, with just 240,000 people reaching Europe, a fall of about 60,000 compared to the previous year.

MSF to resume rescue operations in Mediterranean

Meanwhile, the aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said it will restart its sea rescues in the Mediterranean with a new ship, the Ovyon, after growing challenges from the right-wing Italian government caused it to halt the operations of a previous vessel, the Geo Barents.

"We have returned to fulfil our duty to rescue people who are in distress at sea and are forced to take unseaworthy boats," said MSF head of search and rescue operations Juan Matías Gil in a press
statement released on Wednesday.

Edited by Sean Sinico