8 migrants dead, 100 missing in boat disaster off Libyan coast

No less than eight migrants who embarked on a journey across the Mediterranean Sea lost their lives when the boat ferrying them capsized.

According to Italian coastguards, search and rescue operation is under way to rescue 100 missing migrants after a boat packed with refugees and migrants sank off the Libyan coast.

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“The bodies of eight people have been recovered. Four people have been saved, and they say 107 migrants were onboard the boat,” the coastguard’s press office said.

According to the Italian interior ministry, over 180,000 refugees and migrants landed in Italy last year, an annual record.

The United Nations has said more than 5,000 people died in 2016 trying to cross the Mediterranean, most of them on the Libya-Italy route.

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