<p>CAIRO — At least 10 bodies of Europe-bound migrants washed up ashore in western Libya on Tuesday, a U.N. migration official said, after two shipwrecks this week left some 30 people presumed drowned.</p>
<p>The bodies were found near the western Libyan towns of Zuwara and Garaboli, said Safa Msehli, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration. They are believed to be migrants who drowned earlier this week while trying to reach Europe, she said.</p>
<p>A boat carrying over 65 migrants capsized off Libya on Monday, leaving at least two dozen presumed dead. That followed the death Sunday of five people, including a woman and a child, after their boat capsized.</p>
<p>The shipwrecks were the latest disasters in the Mediterranean Sea involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe. They came amid a spike in crossings and attempted crossings from Libya in recent weeks, with smugglers taking advantage of the calm sea and warm weather.</p>
<p>Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.</p>
<p>In recent years, the European Union has partnered with Libya’s coast guard and other local groups to stem the dangerous Libya-Italy crossings. Rights groups, however, says those policies leave migrants at the mercy of armed groups in squalid detentions centers rife with abuses.</p>
<p>“They (bodies) all bear witness to the hardening policies and rising hostility towards people fleeing violence and extreme poverty,” said the spokeswoman. </p>
