A wooden boat carrying up to 200 migrants has sunk just one kilometer (half a mile) off the Libyan coast, the coast guard said on Saturday, and most passengers were feared drowned.
The local coast guard said it had no boats of its own and had to commandeer fishing vessels in a rescue attempt after fishermen raised the alarm on Saturday morning.
The small boat crammed with between 150-200 migrants sank late on Friday near Qarabouli, east of Tripoli, local coast guard official Mohammad Abdellatif told Reuters Television.
Local fishermen raised the alarm at dawn on Saturday morning and the coast guard managed to rescue 16 migrants who were still alive in the water, surrounded by bodies, Abdellatif said.
The boat had entirely disappeared when the coast guard arrived at the scene, around 1 km from the beach, he said. - Reuters
