More than 100 migrants are missing and feared drowned after a wooden boat capsized off the coast of Libya.
Up to 116 people are missing and 132 were rescued, Libyan navy spokesman Ayoub Qassem said on Thursday.
The ship left Libya from Al Khoms, a town 120 kilometres east of the capital Tripoli. There were around 300 people travelling on board, according to the first available accounts from survivors, but it was unclear if one or two vessels were involved.
Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugee described it as the “worst Mediterranean tragedy of this year”.
He also reiterated his call for migrants rescued at sea not to be returned to Libya where they are kept in detention centres and made even more vulnerable to the volatile political situation in the north-African country
