15 people found dead on boat off Libyan coast

Videos released by Libya's coast guard show the bodies of more than a dozen migrants who seemingly suffocated in the hold of a small wooden boat while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya.

Fifteen migrants died in the boat, the country's coast guard said Tuesday.

The coast guard said it had responded to a distress call Monday related to a wooden vessel carrying migrants.

It said that its forces brought 140 survivors and the bodies of 15 men back to a naval base in the capital Tripoli.

It said all of the survivors had been handed over to police.

The circumstances of the deaths were not immediately clear, but video released Tuesday by Libya's navy showed men lifting the bodies, many of which appeared to be young men or adolescents, from the hold of a small wooden boat.

One Libyan coast guard member appeared to be trying to resuscitate one person.

Libyan authorities launched an unprecedented crackdown on migrants earlier this month in the town of Gargaresh, a hub for migrants transiting to Europe, located just west of Tripoli.

They detained more than 5,000 people in just a few days.

On Friday, hundreds of migrants fled the overcrowded Mabani detention centre in Tripoli. Then guards shot dead six migrants and injured at least 15 others, according to the UN migration agency.