Twenty-three bodies, believed to be of Bangladeshis, have washed up on Libya's shores, with many more feared missing, Bangladeshi Ambassador to Libya Abul Hasnat Mohammad Khairul Bashar said in a live stream on Facebook yesterday.

"A group of 56 migrants left the shores of Libya on January 25. The boat ran aground trouble the same night," he said.

Seven bodies washed ashore on January 28; 11 bodies on January 29; two bodies were found on January 30; and three more on January 31, said the ambassador. All of them washed ashore at Brega in eastern Libya.

"The Red Crescent and local government representatives responsible for processing the bodies for burial said the bodies 'looked' to be of Bangladeshis. However, since they did not have any documentation on them, there is no way to confirm if they are indeed Bangladeshis," said the ambassador.

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20 Bangladeshis feared dead in Libya

"Two people have been rescued in a critical state and they are in the intensive care unit of a hospital under the police or the army, but we are not sure where they are. We are still waiting for a clearance to travel to the region," said the ambassador.

The bodies retrieved so far were buried in Ajdabiya, which is about 40 kilometers away from Brega, on Friday, as they were decomposing.

Brega is governed by a parallel government.

Shakib Chowdhury from Gauripur in Narshingdi is fearing that his brother is among the missing. "My brother Rakib Miah was on board a boat that set sail in the early hours of January 25. The Libyan time would be approximately 3:00am. After he was given 'game', we got a call from a person in Libya who told us that our brother was put on a boat two hours before," said Shakib.

"Game" is the colloquial term used to refer to the process of smuggling a migrant from Libya to Europe by boat via the Mediterranean sea.

Meanwhile, another boat carrying 25 migrants was rescued off the coast of Malta by the NGO Alarm Phone. The NGO reported that two people from the group had died at sea. The rescue took place on January 29, according to posts made on X (formerly Twitter) by the NGO.

It is being claimed that at least one of the two dead was a Bangladeshi man named Foysal Ahmmed Riyad.

Riyad's cousin Tushar told The Daily Star that their broker in Libya contacted the family and informed them that Riyad died on board but that the boat had reached Malta.

"Riyad was given 'game' on January 25. The broker called on January 29 to let us know the news," said Tushar.

The broker who had organised the "game" was a Bangladeshi man from Cumilla, claimed Tushar.

Tushar is yet to get any official confirmation about the death of his cousin.

Alarm Phone first received news about the boat on January 27, according to its social media posts.

An AFM patrol vessel took off to respond to the call. It took the vessel over 16 hours to reach the boat in distress, reported Malta Today

While the AFM patrol vessel was en route, a nearby vessel provided interim assistance to the people on the boat. Upon reaching the site, AFM personnel conducted a rescue operation and recovered 23 survivors and two dead bodies, reported Maltese newspaper.

Riyad had left Bangladesh four months ago and travelled first to Dubai. "Then he went to Egypt and finally to Libya. It took him six days to reach Libya," said Tushar.

Once there, he spent his time in hiding until he was given "game". "We spent Tk 16 lakh on him. He had not even finished high school and was uncertain about his future in Bangladesh," said Tushar.

The Bangladeshi ambassador to Libya said since he took over in June 2023, he had rescued and repatriated over 4,200 Bangladeshis from situations of exploitation.

Libya is a key entry-point for irregular migration to Europe through the Central Mediterranean route.

Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, said in a report published on January 14, that departures from Tunisia and Libya accounted for about 67,000 crossings into Europe in 2024. Bangladeshis predominantly use this route, said the report.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 2,300 people of different nationalities lost their lives at sea in 2024.