Fresh shipwreck in Med, migrants tell UNHCR

Rome (AFP) - Migrants rescued off the coast of Libya have described discovering a shipwrecked dinghy at sea, saying dozens of people including children were lost to the waves, the UNHCR and IOM said Tuesday.

The migrants, interviewed by the UN refugee agency and International Organization for Migration on Monday, said they had set off from Sabratah on Friday in a dinghy carrying 130 people.

Later that day they came across a dinghy which had almost sunk, with four men still clinging to it, who they rescued.

The survivors, four Nigerians, said they had set off from Tripoli a few hours earlier with 156 other people, including many women and children, all of whom had drowned when their rubber vessel deflated.

The remaining dinghy was rescued Friday night by the Italian coast guard, which brought a total of 952 people saved in various operations to Taranto in southern Italy on Monday.

Neither the UNHCR nor the IOM was able to speak directly with the four surviving Nigerians and it would be very difficult to track them down now.

Italy puts newly arrived migrants straight onto buses headed for reception centres throughout the country.

More than 50,000 people have been brought to safety in Italy so far this year, the interior ministry said Monday.

Over the same period, at least 1,254 people have died or are missing feared dead after attempting the perilous crossing, according to the IOM.