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Nine migrant bodies have been recovered from the shores of Tajoura, an eastern suburb of Libya’s capital, Tripoli, after a boat carrying about 19 people capsized.

The bodies were recovered over two days, according to the Tripoli branch of the Red Crescent, which said search and recovery operations were still ongoing.

Muad Zurgani, a media officer with the Tripoli Red Crescent, said more bodies could wash ashore because of the number of people believed to have been on the boat.

“The search and recovery operations are still ongoing,” the Red Crescent said, describing the operation as requiring continuous effort and an urgent humanitarian response.

Images released by the humanitarian organisation showed Red Crescent volunteers and security personnel carrying bodies in white bags from the beach.

In a separate incident on Monday, the rescue ship EMERGENCY rescued 50 migrants from a wooden boat in international waters off Libya, while seven others were found dead.

Libya remains a major transit point for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty who attempt to reach Europe through the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea.

The dangerous Mediterranean crossing has continued to claim migrant lives, with Libya serving as one of the main departure points for people attempting the journey to Europe.

Authorities and humanitarian organisations are continuing the search for possible survivors and additional victims from the latest boat disaster.

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Some youths in Onne, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, have destroyed a traditional worship shrine run by a woman popularly know as ‘Eze Nwanyi’.

In a viral video, a pastor was seen leading the aggrieved youth who entered the woman’s compound, searching from room to room and gathering materials they claimed were used for idol worship.

According to them, the community abolished idol worship many years ago.

The pastor who addressed a crowd said the group received reports that idol worship was taking place at the residence.

He said, “We have been informed that such a thing has been going on in this land for quite some time now, though it was only a rumour.

“So, we decided to come and see things for ourselves. Apostle Dandy and I came on Saturday. We saw things by ourselves, and the lady was trying to claim that what she had been doing here was worship, worship of God and all of that.

“So, having seen all of this, we told her that this is pure idol worship. And, of course, in 1973, through some of our fathers, God invaded this land, roasted all the idols. The record is all over, and He marked it significantly in such a way that nobody died for 35 years after that event.

“Ever since, Onne has transformed so much that you cannot see any public idol worship anywhere around the land, or shrine, or demonic altar. But we were shocked that this woman had something like this here, even though she was trying to hide it. But thank God that He has finally exposed her.

“The community condemns this completely. We are not happy with this, and this is causing us a lot of concern. After this, we have to go and cry to God, based on the covenant we had with Him in 1973 with all our leaders in Onne, that Onne would never embrace idol worship or public idol worship on this land.

“So, with this now, we have already broken the covenant, and it will cost us a lot to go and cry in our market square, with the whole community, to ask for mercy.

“Going forward, we do not want to see any of these things happening again. We are sending a strong message to any stranger, or any person from Onne, wherever you are coming from, that we do not want to see this kind of thing.

“We have been told that there are other strangers bringing strange gods into their houses. We are using this medium to communicate to all the landlords and land ladies around Onne that, please, before you give out a house to a tenant, try to know what the tenant is into.

“Look at what it is costing us now. This is what they can do in other lands, but not in our own case. Rather, God has abolished all of this.

“We bless God for today, and others will learn from it and refrain from this act. Of course, we will be going around the land of Onne. Anywhere we hear such things, we will enter that house and bring them out.”

A Port Harcourt-based rights activist, Prince Wiro, has condemned the destruction of the shrine in a private residence, calling for arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators.

Wiro, who is the National Coordinator of the Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign, described the alleged invasion as a violation of the woman’s fundamental rights of worship, saying disagreements over religious practices should be addressed through lawful channels.

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A 42-year-old man who identified himself as Oji Okoro has been arrested by operatives of the Edo State Police Command for allegedly sodomising a 12-year-old boy.

Okoro was paraded alongside 15 other suspects for various offences, including alleged kidnapping, vandalism, staged kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms.

Parading the suspects, the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Eno Ikoedem, said Okoro was arrested for allegedly committing an unnatural offence against the boy.

“This man (Oji Okoro) committed an unnatural offence. He defiled a 12-year-old boy,” Ikoedem said.

Okoro, however, blamed the devil and drugs for his alleged action.

Also paraded were 26-year-old Donatus Martins and his friend for allegedly vandalising cables and equipment belonging to Africa Independent Television (AIT), Benin office.

The police spokesperson alleged that the suspects had vandalised equipment worth over N4 million from the office since it stopped operations.

However, Martins confessed that he and his friend had carried out the vandalism and sold the stolen items.

He said: “The first one was N75,000. We paid the bikeman N5,000. During the first operation, we stole three DVDs and three copper-wire cables. The second operation was N90,000, but the buyer gave us N70,000, so N20,000 was remaining. It was during the third operation that we were caught.”

Martins, who said he works as a bricklayer, added that whenever there was no construction job, he and his friend resorted to looking for iron and other materials to sell to buyers to make a living.

Also paraded was Chigozie Anthony, who allegedly lured a girl he met on TikTok to his house, kidnapped her and demanded N500,000 from her parents, which they reportedly paid before his arrest.

Anthony, however, denied the kidnapping allegation, claiming that the girl was his girlfriend and that they had both planned the act.

He said: “It was a plan between me and my girlfriend. We had been chatting for more than a month. She came to my place and told me that she wanted to do business. She said after the nursing training she was undergoing, she would need N800,000 and something. She will finish her nursing training next month.

“She then said that I should hide her so that her family would pay money. That was how I hid her and demanded N500,000, which her parents paid.”

Ajayi Godwin was also arrested and paraded for alleged unlawful possession of firearms in Auchi, while Akinla Lawrence and his friend were paraded for allegedly vandalising pipelines in the Okada axis of Ovia North-East Local Government Area of the state.