Up to 64 migrants feared dead in shipwreck off Libya: IOM

ROME, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Up to 64 people were believed to have drowned in the shipwreck of a migrant boat off Libya on Saturday, the United Nations migration agency said on Monday.

The incident involved a crowded rubber dinghy that sailed from the northern coasts of the African country. The boat is reportedly carrying over 150 people on board.

86 migrants and refugees were saved, and 8 bodies recovered in the rescue mission, which involved the Italian navy and Coast Guard.

All of the survivors were brought to the port of Catania in southern Italy, where aid workers started gathering their stories.

"Sixty-four migrants lost their life in the shipwreck occurred last Saturday," Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Twitter on Monday.

Those saved (45 men, 7 women, and 34 minors) were mostly from Western Africa, and especially from Mali and Gambia, according to the official.

"There are four children -- aged between 2 years and 10 years -- among the rescued minors, including a 3-year-old girl who has lost her mother in the shipwreck," Di Giacomo told Xinhua.

The incident was believed to be the first involving a migrant boat in the Mediterranean in 2018, according to aid agencies and non-government groups.

The dinghy had sailed in the night between Friday and Saturday, survivors told IOM officials in Catania. It started sinking some 8-9 hours after departure, likely due to both the poor condition of the vessel and a rough sea.

Some 3,081 migrants were believed to have died in the crossing of the Mediterranean in 2017, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR. Enditem