Geneva, 17 December 2023 (dpa/MIA) - At least 61 people have died in a boat accident off the coast of Libya, the United Nation's International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Saturday.

Women and children were among the victims, the IOM said in a post on social media platform X.

The agency cited witnesses as saying that 86 people were on board when the boat took off from the Libyan coastal town of Zwara.

"The central Mediterranean continues to be one of the world's most dangerous migration routes," the IOM said.

Libya is one of the main transit countries for migrants in North Africa on their way to Europe.

According to the UN agency, more than 2,200 people have died on the Central Mediterranean route this year so far.

This was a "dramatic number" which showed that not enough is being done to save lives in the Mediterranean, an IOM spokesman wrote in a post on X on Saturday evening.

Last year more than 1,450 died on the journey across the Central Mediterranean.

Since 2014, more than 20,000 people have died or been reported missing on the Mediterranean, according to the IOM.

Photo: MIA archive