TRIPOLI, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Libya's Interior Ministry on Monday said that 84 illegal migrants, including women and children, were rescued on Sunday off the coast of the city of Zuwara, some 120 km west of the capital Tripoli.

"On Sunday afternoon, a fisherman from Zuwara city reported that there was a rubber boat carrying a number of illegal migrants who were rescued by a patrol of the Coast Security Department," the ministry said in a statement.

"The 84 migrants, including 3 women and 2 children, are of different nationalities," the statement added.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Sunday that it was saddened by reports of nearly 170 migrants died or missing in the Mediterranean. A total of 117 of them departed from western Libya.

More than 2,200 migrants died while crossing the Mediterranean toward Europe in 2018, the commission said.

Libya is a preferred point of departure for illegal migrants wanting to cross the Mediterranean toward European shores because of the state of insecurity and chaos in the North African country. Enditem

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