UN: Upto 245 missing after 2 Mediterranean shipwrecks

UN agencies say up to 245 migrants and refugees are missing and feared dead following two recent shipwrecks of smugglers' boats in the Mediterranean Sea.

UNHCR says one of its partner agencies, the International Medical Corps, reported a shipwreck on Sunday off the Libyan coast in which 163 people are missing and feared dead. The UN agency said one woman and six men were rescued by the Libyan Coast Guard. The refugee agency also said some 82 people are missing and feared dead after a rubber dinghy carrying 132 people on Friday sank in the Mediterranean after several hours of sailing. Some 50 survivors were rescued and taken to Pozzallo, Sicily. The shipwrecks come as the weather warms and sea conditions are improving, which the UN says will only entice more smuggling boats to launch from lawless Libya. Many people who take the central Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy are migrants from Africa seeking to flee from political persecution or find better economic opportunities in Europe.

Overall, UNHCR said that more than 1,300 people have disappeared and are believed to have died this year while crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa to Italy, and some 43,000 migrants and asylum-seekers reached Italy.