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                 Hundreds Missing After Boat Capsizes off Libya

   by VOA News

   A boat with up to 250 African emigrants trying to reach Europe sank on
   Sunday off the Libyan coast and most are feared dead, a spokesman for
   the Libyan navy said.

   According to Libyan officials only 36 migrants, among them three women,
   were rescued after the boat sank in waters off Tajoura, east of the
   capital Tripoli.

   ''

    "There are so many dead bodies floating in the sea," Navy spokesman
   Ayub Qassem said, adding that the under-equipped Libyan coast guard had
   few resources to search for survivors.

   The unrest and political chaos in Libya has turned it into a launch pad
   for illegal migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea for a better
   life in Europe, mainly Italy.

   'Worst shipwreck in years'

   The International Organization for Migration (IOM) told the French news
   agency AFP that the capsizing was "the worst shipwreck in years."

   The IOM also said that survivors claimed the traffickers rammed the
   migrants' boat until it capsized, the AFP reported.

   Qassem told Reuters the emigrants on the capsized boat were mostly
   Africans, among them women.

   In recent months, scores of migrants from North Africa and the Middle
   East have attempted to flee conflicts in Africa, Syria, Iraq and
   elsewhere in the Middle East.

   This year more than 100,000 have reached Italy and nearly 2,000 have
   perished in the hazardous crossing to Europe, according to the United
   Nations High Commissioner for Refugee.

   Some materials for this report came from Reuters and AFP.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/african-migrants-libya-boat-capsizes/2450166.html