The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on December 26 that it began evacuating 162 “highly vulnerable” refugees from Libya to Italy on December 22.

The refugees, including unaccompanied children and women who had been held captive, were taken in two trips, on December 22 and 23. Five of these women gave birth while in detention, with very limited medical assistance, the UNHCR said.

The group was described by the UN of consisting of Eritrean, Ethiopian, Somali and Yemeni refugees.

After their release from detention, the refugees were accompanied by UNHCR staff to Tripoli and then to a military base near Rome, where they were transferred to the Italian authorities.

About 400,000 migrants are in Libya, including about 36,000 children, the UN children’s agency UNICEF reported on December 18.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is aiming to return about 15,000 African migrants, who are stranded in Libya, to their home countries, by the end of this year. Credit: Unifeed/UNHCR via Storyful