ANKARA
An estimated 350 migrants, including children, are believed to have drowned off the coast of Libya while trying to reach Italy last weekend, the International Organization for Migration, or IOM, said in a statement Wednesday.
There were at least 500 migrants on the boat, the statement said, adding "at least a third of the passengers were women and children."
"When the men on the deck became restless and started moving about because a rescue boat was beginning to approach them, the boat capsized and water flooded the hull," said the statement. "145 people were rescued and the rest are all reported missing."
According to some migrants, they were rescued by a fishing boat, and then transferred to an Italian Navy ship, the statement said adding that this account needed confirmation.
Survivors were taken to the port of Reggio Calabria in the south of Italy, where they met IOM staff Tuesday afternoon.
In total, as many as 5,000 migrants reached Italy between Saturday and Monday at the isle of Lampedusa, in Sicily, Calabria and Apulia, including some 450 children, of whom 317 were unaccompanied, according to officials from the Save the Children Fund, which promotes children's rights around the world.
The surge in migrants trying to reach Italy from Libya was said to be due to the recent good weather that was encouraging human smugglers to load desperate refugees and migrants aboard poorly-equipped vessels.
