TRIPOLI, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday said that 119 illegal immigrants have been rescued off Libya's western coast.

"A total of 119 refugees and migrants, aboard two rubber boats, were intercepted/rescued off Libyan coast, after departing from Sabratha and Al Khums (western Libya)," the UNHCR tweeted.

Following the 2011 fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi's government, Libya has been plagued by a state of insecurity and chaos that prompts thousands of illegal migrants to attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea toward Europe.

Many illegal immigrants, who were either rescued at sea or arrested by authorities, remain detained in overcrowded reception centers in Libya, despite repeated international calls to close those centers. Enditem

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