By Bayram Altug

GENEVA (AA) – At least 24 people died when a rubber boat carrying irregular migrants sank Tuesday on the Mediterranean Sea near Libya, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Libyan Coast Guard teams detected three rubber boats carrying irregular migrants. One of the boats capsized, killing the victims, IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli told reporters at the United Nations office at Geneva.

Another 45 survivors, all of them male, with a majority from Egypt and Morocco, were taken to Libya and arrested, Msehli said.

“This new tragedy signals yet again the need for increased search and rescue capacity in the Mediterranean. Instead, we are seeing restrictions on NGOs and long, unnecessary stand-offs,” Msehli said.

In August, a boat carrying dozens of refugees and migrants capsized leaving at least 45 people missing, off the coast of Libya.

Meanwhile, according to Reuters. three people drowned when a boat carrying migrants sank off the island of Crete late on Monday while 56 aboard were rescued, the coast guard said.

The coast guard said it recovered three bodies, and the victims were believed to be a woman and two children.

The Mediterranean Sea is the most preferred route by migrants from Africa, mostly from Libya, who are trying to get into Europe through Italy and Malta.

* Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur

Additional report by The Muslim News

[Archive Photo: Refugees taken off the boat at the Libya coast on 6 June 2015. Photographer: Hazem Turkia/AA]