TRIPOLI, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday that 1,088 migrants were rescued and returned to Libya in the past week.
"In the period of 25-31 December 2022, 1,088 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya," the IOM said in a statement.
The rescued migrants included 1,241 women and 776 children, it added.
In 2022, a total of 24,684 migrants were rescued and returned to Libya, the IOM revealed, adding 525 migrants died and 848 others went missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean route.
Because of the insecurity and chaos in the country since the fall of late leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, many migrants, mostly Africans, chose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya.
Rescued migrants usually end up inside overcrowded reception centers across Libya, despite repeated international calls to close those centers and release the migrants. ■