Quelle: The Libya Observer | 05.01.2017

The Libyan Red Crescent, Tripoli branch, said it had rescued 80 migrants on Wednesday after they paddled ashore Tripoli beaches thinking they had arrived in Italy.

The Head of the Intervention Unit of the Red Crescent, Mohammed Al-Emam, said the Libyan Coast Guard told them about the boat and the survivors, so they started giving them humanitarian and medical care as soon as they arrived at the spot, adding that they transferred the survivors to the illegal immigration shelter centers.

The immigrants, most of whom are Senegalese, took a ride on three boats three days ago from Sabratha city, but faced with climate discomfort, two boats managed to make to the Hay Al-Andalus beach in Tripoli.

“We thought we had arrived in Italy.” Says one of the survivors, according to eyewitnesses, who added that some of the migrants started jumping into water in a bid to reach the land, but drowned trying.

The migrants on the second boat decided to go back into the sea as soon as they realized they were still in Libya, preferring to give their European dream another shot.

The Libyan Coast Guard contacted the Italian authorities about the second boat heading toward Italy.