GENEVA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Two United Nations agencies condemned on Friday the death of a Sudanese migrant who died from a bullet wound hours after being returned to shore in Libya.
"The International Organization for Migration (IOM), whose staff witnessed the tragedy, strongly condemns the migrant's death," said IOM spokesperson Safa Msehli at a UN media briefing here.
The tragedy occurred on Thursday at the Abusitta disembarkation point in Tripoli as many of the 103 migrants returned to shore were resisting being sent back to detention centers, she said.
IOM staff, there to provide aid to migrants, reported that armed men began shooting in the air when several migrants tried to run away from their guards.
"The migrant was struck by a bullet in the stomach. Despite immediately receiving medical aid on the spot by an IOM doctor and then being transferred to a nearby clinic -- he died two hours after admission," said Msehli.
Charlie Yaxley, UN Refugee Agency spokesperson, said at the same briefing that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees "condemns this utterly deplorable act."
Yaxley said there must be greater efforts to provide safe and alternative pathways to asylum so that refugees do not feel so desperate that they risk their lives on such dangerous journeys.
The latest tragedy came two months after 53 migrants, among them six minors, were killed in an airstrike on the Tajoura detention center.
