At least 239 migrants are believed to have drowned this week in two shipwrecks off the coast of Libya, the United Nations refugee agency said Thursday, adding to the toll in what was already the deadliest year on record in the Mediterranean Sea. Survivor accounts suggest that two crowded boats broke up just off the coast of Libya on Wednesday, U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Carlotta Sami said. The remaining people on the boats are believed to have drowned, Sami said. Last year, 153,846 people arrived in Italy via the central Mediterranean route — a figure that has just been surpassed in 2016. Smugglers are sending out large groups in several ships at once, complicating rescue efforts if multiple boats capsize, U.N. refugee agency spokesman William Spindler said in October.

Source: Washington Post November 03, 2016 13:32 UTC