100 migrants missing off Libya after shipwreck

Rome, May 8 (IANS/AKI) At least 113 migrants were missing in the Mediterranean after their inflatable dinghy sank, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Monday.

"Our Libyan colleagues gave us this information after speaking to the seven survivors of the shipwreck - a woman and six men," IOM spokesman Flavio De Giacomo said.

"They said 120 people were aboard the dinghy," he told Adnkronos.

Monday's shipwreck off Zawyiya came after 80 people died on Saturday when the rubber dinghy they were in overturned in the Mediterranean, Italian prosecutors said, citing survivors' accounts.

Some 6,000 migrants heading for Europe were rescued in the Mediterranean on Friday and Saturday in dozens of frantic operations coordinated by the Italian Coast Guard.

A total of 44,209 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea this year till May 3, with the vast majority arriving in Italy and the rest in Greece, Cyprus and Spain, IOM said on Friday.

IOM said it was waiting for confirmation of at least 120 fatalities last week, which would bring this year's death toll through May 3 to over 1,200 people.

More than 5,000 migrants perished at sea in 2016, making it the deadliest year on record.

--IANS/AKI

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