Eight bodies recovered in Libya, Greece as Mediterranean death toll rises

Police in Libya have recovered the bodies of five asylum seekers that washed ashore near the capital, Tripoli, as authorities in Greece announced the deaths of three others in a separate incident off the coast of Crete, Report informs via Al Jazeera.

The bodies in Libya were found on Saturday by residents of the coastal town of Qasr al-Akhyar, according to a police officer.

Hassan al-Ghawil, head of investigations ⁠at the Qasr al-Akhyar police station, told the Reuters news agency that the bodies were all of dark-skinned people. Two of them were women.

He said people in the area had reported seeing a child's body wash ashore before the waves returned it to sea.

"We reported to the Red Crescent to ⁠recover the bodies," said Ghawil. "The bodies we found are still intact, and we think there are more bodies ⁠to wash ashore."

The tragedy came as Greek authorities were responding to a separate incident in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Athens News Agency reported on Saturday that authorities had recovered three bodies and rescued at least 20 people after a wooden boat carrying migrants and asylum seekers capsized off the coast of Crete.

Most of the survivors were Egyptians and Sudanese people, the agency reported. They also included four minors.