Five migrant bodies wash ashore east of Tripoli coast

Local residents discovered at least five bodies of migrants on the Emhamid Al-Sharif shore in Qasr al-Akhyar, about 73 kilometers east of Tripoli, police said. Two of the dead were women, and a child’s body that briefly washed ashore was carried back out to sea by high waves, prompting authorities to ask the coast guard to search, Hassan Al-Ghawil, head of investigations at the Qasr al-Akhyar police station, told Reuters.

Ghawil said the bodies were reported by people in the area who alerted the police station. "We reported to the Red Crescent to recover the bodies," he said, adding that the remains "are still intact" and that officers expected more to wash ashore. Photographs posted online and seen by Reuters showed bodies lying on the sand, some still within black inflatable lifebuoys.

The discovery was reported to Reuters on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. Police did not provide nationalities, exact ages or any identification for the deceased, and there was no immediate confirmation that the bodies came from a single capsized vessel. Ghawil described the recovered people as "all dark-skinned people," a physical observation he offered to reporters.

Authorities asked the Libyan coast guard to search for the child who was carried back out to sea. The Red Crescent was contacted to recover the bodies, according to Ghawil. Local officials have not yet released details on whether the bodies were transferred for forensic examination or where they will be taken.

The incident comes amid a grim pattern of migrant deaths in the central Mediterranean. Earlier this month the International Organization for Migration said a rubber boat carrying 55 people capsized off Zuwara in western Tripoli, leaving 53 migrants, including two babies, dead or missing. Humanitarian groups say Libya remains a major transit point for migrants attempting the crossing to Europe since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and that the country’s divided governance and armed groups have exacerbated dangers for people on the move.

Amnesty International and the IOM have repeatedly documented high mortality and abuse rates tied to the route, citing thousands intercepted and returned to Libya and hundreds to thousands detained. According to IOM figures cited by rights groups, between January and September of a recent reporting period 1,749 people died or went missing at sea in the central Mediterranean, underscoring the scale of maritime fatalities in the region.

For communities along Libya’s coast, such recoveries are a stark reminder of the human cost of irregular migration and the capacity constraints facing local responders. Police statements suggested more bodies could wash ashore in the coming days, raising the prospect of further recoveries and the need for coordination among local authorities, the Red Crescent and international agencies to identify victims and notify any relatives.

Officials and humanitarian groups can provide more clarity only after recovery operations and forensic work. In the meantime, the Qasr al-Akhyar discovery adds to a string of recent tragedies that continue to challenge regional search and rescue efforts and to highlight the perilous nature of migration routes across the Mediterranean.