Filippo Ungaro, a representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Italy, said there were between 92 and 97 people on board.
"60 survivors have been taken to the Lampedusa center," he said.
According to the representative of the International Organization for Migration Flavio Di Giacomo, the tragedy occurred after one of the two boats that left Libya with about 95 migrants began to sink. All the people were transferred to another boat, which capsized due to overload.
It is not yet known how long the migrants were at sea. The mayor of Lampedusa, Filippo Mannino, said that the disaster occurred "presumably at dawn." Rescuers continue to search for survivors.
According to the International Organization for Migration, the migration route from North Africa to Southern Europe is considered one of the most dangerous in the world: over the past decade, almost 24,500 people have died or gone missing while crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the dead were passengers of small boats sailing off the coasts of Tunisia and Libya, kz.kursiv.media reports.
