Tripoli, Jun 6 (IANS): The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that 900 migrants, including 39 women and 14 children, were rescued and returned to Libya during the past week.

The IOM said the migrants were intercepted by Libyan authorities and returned to the country from May 28 to June 3, reports Xinhua news agency.

So far this year, a total of 6,684 undocumented migrants have been rescued and returned to Libya, IOM said.

The UN body added that 651 migrants died and 332 others went missing off the Libyan coast on the central Mediterranean route in 2023.

The IOM also noted that 24,684 migrants were rescued and returned to Libya in 2022, while 525 migrants lost their lives and 848 others went missing along the central Mediterranean route off the country's coast.

Because of the instability and chaos in the North African country since the fall of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, many migrants, mostly Africans, choose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya.