MIGRANT CRISIS: ‘HUNDREDS DEAD’ IN SHIPWRECKS OFF LIBYA
Members of Maltese NGO MOAS help people to board a small rescue boat during a rescue operation of migrants and refugees on 3 November 2016, off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea.
Image caption Migrant boats, such as this one on the left, are often packed full of people
More than 200 migrants are believed drowned in two shipwrecks off the coast of Libya, migration officials say.
The UN refugee agency was told the news by survivors brought ashore on the Italian island of Lampedusa, spokeswoman Carlotta Sami said.
Twelve bodies have been recovered.
More than 4,200 migrants have died making the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea this year, International Organization of Migration spokesman Leonard Doyle says.
The UN has warned 2016 could be the deadliest for migrants making the journey.
Nearly 330,000 migrants have crossed the sea so far this year, compared with more than one million in 2015.
