http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36071737
Migrant crisis: Many feared dead in Mediterranean
51 minutes ago
Many people are feared to have drowned after the boat they were being transferred to by traffickers capsized in the Mediterranean, survivors say. The 41 survivors, migrants mainly from East Africa, spoke to the BBC from the southern Greek city of Kalamata, where they are being held after their rescue. They said up to 500 people had died, though there has been no official confirmation of the incident.

Earlier, six bodies were found after a separate incident off the Libyan coast.

Neither the Italian nor Greek coast guards have confirmed what would be one of the deadliest migrant boat disasters in recent years. The group of Ethiopians, Somalis, Sudanese and Egyptians was rescued by a cargo ship. The crew told the BBC that the migrants initially refused to be handed over to the Greek coastguard as they were determined to get to Italy.

A Somali woman living in Egypt told the BBC Somali service that three of her relatives, whom she had not heard from since they set out for Europe on Thursday, had died. The presidents of both Somalia and the self-declared Republic of Somaliland offered their condolences following the reports.

But the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has cast doubt, tweeting that the information hundreds had died appeared „inaccurate“. The fact that the boat capsized at night in open sea may well have contributed to the lack of clear information available, correspondents say.