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Refugee crisis: 'More than 700' feared dead in Mediterranean shipwrecks Refugee crisis: 'More than 700' feared dead in Mediterranean shipwrecks
(35 minutes later)
More than 700 refugees are believed to have died in the three shipwrecks in the Mediterranean over the past few days, the UN refugee agency has said. More than 700 refugees are believed to have died in three shipwrecks in the Mediterranean over the past few days, the UN refugee agency has said, in what would be the deadliest week in the refugee crisis for more than a year.
More follows The UNHCR now believes around 100 people are missing from the sinking of a wooden smugglers' boat which capsized on Wednesday, captured in dramatic photos by the Italian Navy.
Around 550 are feared dead after a boat carrying 670 capsized on Thursday morning, having left the Libyan port of Sabratha a day earlier.
According to survivors, the boat didn't have an engine and was being towed. Some 25 people survived by swimming to that second boat, while another 79 were recovered by members of the international mission in the Mediterranean.
And Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR, said a third shipwreck occurred on Friday, during which 135 people were rescued. At least 45 bodies were recovered, taking the overall toll up to 700 - but survivors say many more are missing still.
With the migration route into Europe via Turkey and Greece closed off, the traffic of people crossing in unseaworthy boats from Libya to Italy's southern islands has increased.
There have not been more than 700 refugee deaths in the Mediterranean crisis in a single month - let alone three days - since April 2015, according to the International Organisation for Migration, when 800 were feared dead in a single wreck.