when a fishing boat smuggling migrants to Europe
capsized off Libya, the UN's refugee agency said
Sunday, in what could be the deadliest
Mediterranean migrant disaster yet.
Only 28 people survived the capsize, UNHCR
spokeswoman Carlotta Sami told the Skytg24 news
channel in Italy. The survivors indicated there had
been more than 700 on board, she said.
The Maltese navy put the numbers on board at
around 650 and said an alert had come in around
midnight (2200 GMT) on Saturday.
"We have deployed our assets along with others
from Italy and we are assisting in the rescue
operation," a Maltese navy spokesman told AFP
Sunday without giving any other details.
If confirmed, the tragedy would be by far the biggest
in a growing catalogue of mass drownings of
migrants attempting to reach the European Union on
overcrowded, unseaworthy boats run by people
smugglers.
The boat went down about 60 miles (96 km) off the
Libyan coast and 120 miles (193 km) south of the
Italian island of Lampedusa.
The disaster comes after a week in which two other
shipwrecks left an estimated 450 people dead. More
than 11,000 other would-be immigrants to Europe
have been rescued by Italy's coastguard and other
boats.
Some 1,500 migrants have now drowned in the
waters between Libya and Italy since the start of the
year.
Aid organisations have called for a concerted
international effort to put better search-and-rescue
systems in place and for action to stem the
unprecedented numbers of asylum seekers and
migrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa
seeking to reach Europe.
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