TRIPOLI, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Libya deported 160 Bangladeshi migrants voluntarily to their home country on Wednesday, according to the Libyan Illegal Migration Control Department.

"Today (Wednesday), we deported 160 illegal migrants of Bangladeshi nationality to their country through a flight from Tripoli Mitiga International Airport to Dhaka, Bangladesh," Khalid al-Abyad, an officer with the department, told Xinhua.

Al-Abyad confirmed that work to advance the voluntary departure of migrants will continue in the future.

It follows the department's deportation of a group of Egyptian migrants to their home country via the land port on Tuesday.

Because of the insecurity and chaos in the country since the fall of its late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, many migrants, mostly Africans, choose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya.

So far this year, a total of 4,767 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya, 82 migrants died, and 58 others went missing on the central Mediterranean route, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Last week, Libyan Interior Minister Emad al-Tarabelsi stressed the importance of UN support for the voluntary departure of migrants from Libya to their home countries.

Al-Tarabelsi said earlier that Libya may resort to "forced deportation of illegal migrants" if the international community fails to support their voluntary return to their countries of origin. Enditem

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