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Tragedy as 150 migrants drown off Libya’s coast

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Tragedy as 150 migrants drown off Libya's coast

Rescue officials are having a torrid time trying to search for bodies after two boats carrying more than 300 people capsized off the coast of Libya.

According to aid agencies and officials, the migrants were seeking entry into Europe when their boats capsized with reports suggesting that the incident is the worst to happen this year.

Ayoub Qasim, a spokesman for Libya’s coastguard, said the boats carrying around 300 people sank around 120km east of the capital, Tripoli, before adding that 134 others were rescued.

However, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a Twitter post on Thursday that more than 150 people were feared drowned while 145 were rescued and returned to Libya after the incident.

READ ALSO: Canadian man survives after being swept over Niagara Falls

The lucky survivors were rescued by local fishermen and taken back to the shore by Libyan coastguard, Charlie Yaxley, spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), said.

“We estimate that 150 migrants are potentially missing and died at sea,” he said. “The dead include women and children.”

“The worst Mediterranean tragedy of this year has just occurred,” Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, he said.

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