Tripoli:
Vessels carrying hundreds of migrants capsized off the coast of Libya in separate incidents over the last two days and more than 300 people were believed to have drowned, an international migration group said on Tuesday.
The International Organisation for Migration said Libyan officials reported between one and three ships had sunk in Libyan waters yesterday and Sunday. The group confirmed the information with diplomatic sources, spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy said.
He said strong winds could have caused the vessels to capsize.
IOM believes the migrants were trying to cross from North Africa to Italy in search of a better life in Europe.
According to the group's figures, some 33,000 people crossed from North Africa to the Italian island of Lampedusa alone in 2008. Many of the boats are not seaworthy and deadly accidents are frequent.
Some of the survivors managed to reach the shores of Italy while others have been intercepted and returned to Libya, said Laurence Hart, an IOM official in the northern African country.
"Rescue operations are ongoing," Hart said over the phone from Tripoli. He said the number of missing ranges between 300 to 500 people but that an exact causality figure has not been confirmed.