(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency) Up to 700 people are feared dead after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the Libyan coast overnight, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Sunday.
UNHCR Spokeswoman, Carlotta Sami, said the vessel was trying to reach Europe with as many as 700 migrants on board when it capsized some 110Km off the Libyan coast.
Twenty-eight migrants have so far been rescued, which happened in Libyan waters 120 miles off the Italian coast of Lampedusa, the UN official said, adding that a state of emergency was declared at midnight.
It is thought the boat capsized after migrants on board crowded to one side of the boat as a merchant ship approached.
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