(Los Angeles Times) – Seeking to take advantage of calmer seasonal waters, more migrants from Africa are trying to cross to Europe from Libya in recent weeks — and more than 100 are believed to have drowned when three boats sank in the Mediterranean. Libyan officials said Sunday that at least 36 migrants died and 42 remained missing after the boat in which they were traveling capsized May 6 off the Libyan coast, 30 miles east of Tripoli. An official said that the hull of the boat gave way shortly after it left the beach because of the crush of people on board. Passengers were said to have come from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gambia, Mali and Senegal. A United Nations official said Sunday that the Libyan coast guard reported another wreck off the Libyan coast on April 30, in which a Somali survivor reported that 40 fellow passengers had drowned.

via BlackPressUSA