Migrant deaths surge, EU builds rescue centre in Libya

ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH/‪Salah Darwish

JAKARTA - The EU Ambassador to Libya Nicola Orlando revealed that his party agreed to a plan to establish a Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Benghazi, Libya, amid a surge in migrant deaths.

"We have completed the procedures to establish a Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Benghazi under Operation IRINI, with funding from Italy and Malta," Nicola said via the X platform, as reported by Sputnik, Saturday, August 1.

"This rescue center, together with special training from IRINI and EUBAM Libya, will strengthen Libya's capabilities in conducting search and rescue operations at sea in line with international standards and human rights," he continued.

Operation IRINI is an EU military mission launched in 2020 to monitor the implementation of the United Nations (UN) mandate on the arms embargo in Libya following the Second Libyan Civil War.

Meanwhile, the European Union Border Assistance Mission in Libya (EUBAM Libya) is a crisis management mission established by the European Union in 2013 to assist and train Libyan security forces in guarding the country's land, sea, and air borders.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded more than 1,000 migrants died in the waters off Libya in 2025 while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

Every day, hundreds of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa try to cross from Tunisian and Libyan territory to Europe by boat.