One migrant’s encounter with death
As people in Libya try to make their way out of the country, mainly through illegal means, they are realizing the danger involved in the smuggling operations.
A Moroccan man who tried and failed twice to board a smuggler's ship in Libya considers himself lucky he missed the boat.
“I could have been among the dead, but luckily … the boat was full already,” he told Al-Monitor.
Ibrahim, who did not want to disclose his full name fearing reprisals, lives in Tripoli with his wife, father, mother and younger brother. He makes a decent salary as an artistic director at a local radio station. A couple of weeks before Ibrahim spoke with Al-Monitor, his younger brother had convinced nearly the entire family to make the dangerous trip to Italy. The father, in his late 60s, did not like the idea and refused to go.
Through a Palestinian neighbor, who had spent time in jail, they made the connection with smugglers based in the coastal city of Zuwara, where most smuggling operations over the Mediterranean originate.
