TOBRUK — A boat carrying 33 Sudanese migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea near the eastern Libyan town of Tobruk, leaving at least 17 people dead and nine missing, according to U.N. officials. Only seven people on board survived the shipwreck, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

The boat had departed from Tobruk and was heading to Greece when it capsized approximately 100 kilometers northwest of the town, according to the International Organization for Migration. Survivors had been stranded at sea for several days before being rescued, the agency said, and some of the migrants died of hunger and thirst.

The shipwreck followed another deadly incident earlier in April, when more than 80 migrants went missing after a boat that departed a Libyan coastal town capsized in the central Mediterranean. In early April 2026, 765 people were reported dead in the Central Mediterranean crossing, a roughly 150% increase compared with the same period in 2025, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

IOM Director General Amy Pope said the agency is seeing a growing number of migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sudan on boats in the Mediterranean. Rescue operations in the Tobruk incident were carried out by the navy, the Libyan coast guard and the Libyan Red Crescent, according to IOM. The medical conditions of the survivors were not immediately known.

Libya has been a transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The country experienced political instability after a 2011 uprising toppled and killed longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi.