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Migrant crisis: 'Hundreds dead' in shipwrecks off Libya | |
(35 minutes later) | |
More than 239 migrants are believed drowned in two shipwrecks off the coast of Libya, migration officials say. | |
The UNHCR refugee agency was told the news by two survivors brought ashore on the Italian island of Lampedusa, spokeswoman Carlotta Sami said. | |
No bodies have so far been recovered. | |
More than 4,200 migrants have died making the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea this year, International Organization of Migration spokesman Leonard Doyle says. | |
The UN has warned 2016 could be the deadliest for migrants making the journey. | |
Nearly 330,000 migrants have crossed the sea so far this year, compared with more than one million in 2015. | |
Many of those killed in the latest incident are believed to be migrants from West Africa. | |
Smugglers who organise the treacherous journeys overload flimsy boats and often send them off in bad weather, the UN says. | |
Italy has seen an increase in the trafficking of migrants from Libya ever since an EU-Turkey agreement to halt migrants travelling to the Greek islands came into force in March. |