Deadly waters: 2 200 dead or missing crossing Mediterranean from Africa this year - report

• An MSF report says 2 200 people were reported dead or missing trying to cross from Tunisia and Libya into Europe.
• The human rights body claimed the EU's lack of coordination and interest in rescuing people at sea contributed to the deaths.
• Illegal migrants are allegedly detained and abused in Libya, the report said.

This year saw record deaths or people reported missing trying to cross the central Mediterranean Sea from Africa to Europe, according to a new report by Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

According to the report titled "No one came to our rescue", about 2 200 people were reported dead or missing, the biggest jump since 2017.

Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name Médecins Sans Frontières, said the blame for the sudden rise in these numbers was due to "violent border practices and the deliberate inaction of European states".

MSF gathered data for the report from rescue vessels such as the Geo Barents through interviews with people who had been rescued.

This week, the Geo Barents sailed for four to five days to dock at a port designated by Italian authorities, transporting 57 survivors rescued on Friday.

In the report, MSF claimed to have gathered evidence of coastal European nations actively endangering people's lives by delaying or failing to coordinate rescues, as well as encouraging refoulements to dangerous locations.

According to the report, Tunisia had now surpassed Libya as the primary point of departure.

This considerable increase in departures, combined with a lack of state-led rescue capacity, has resulted in an increase in the number of vessels in trouble and shipwrecks.

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Each day since the beginning of the year, an average of eight people have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean, said MSF.

The report claimed those rescued ended up with terminal ailments linked to their dangerous voyages.

"People rescued often suffered from health conditions directly related to the dangerous sea crossings, including fuel burns, fuel poisoning, hypothermia, and dehydration," MSF said.

Libya has gained notoriety for its abuse of those seeking to use it as an illegal transit point to Europe.

"Many survivors also experienced medical issues related to cramped and inhumane living conditions during their captivity in Libya, such as skin infections and untreated wounds," MSF said in a statement.

MSF search and rescue representative Juan Matias Gil said the wounds and stories they were told by survivors told a sad story of what trying to leave Africa for greener pastures presented.

"Patients' wounds and stories reflect the scale of violence to which they were subjected in their country of origin and along their journey, including in Libya and Tunisia," he added.

MSF said the European Union (EU) and its member states have continued to invest in detrimental migration policies, regulations, and practices with little consideration for the human cost.

While the MSF team in the Mediterranean continues to witness forced returns to Libya, new agreements with third countries, such as those signed this summer with Tunisia and more recently with Albania, are the latest troubling attempts in Europe to deviate from states' obligations to assist people seeking protection.

In July, Italian authorities detained German rescue ships Sea-Eye 4 and Mare Go, operated by NGOs, for breaching a new law preventing ships deployed to rescue migrants from carrying out multiple operations in a row.

Gil said this was a clear signal that for the EU, those lives at sea did not matter.

"How many more deaths in the central Mediterranean will the European states wait for before they halt their hostile and inhumane approach?