A boat packed with mainly African migrants bound for Italy sank
off the Libyan coast on Thursday and officials said up to 200
might have died.

A security official in the western town of Zuwara, from where the
overcrowded boat had set off, said there had around 400 people
on board. Many appeared to have been trapped in the hold when
it capsized.

By late in the evening, the Libyan coast guard rescued around
201, of which 147 were brought to a detention facility for illegal
migrants in Sabratha, west of Tripoli, the official said, asking
not to be named.

Another local official and a journalist based in Zuwara
confirmed the sinking but also had no information on
casualties.

The migrants on board had been from sub-Saharan Africa,
Pakistan, Syria, Morocco and Bangladesh, the security official
said.

The Italian coast guard, which has been coordinating rescue
operations with the European Union off the Libyan coast, could
not immediately confirm a sinking.

Libya’s coast guard has very limited capabilities, relying on
small inflatables, tug boats and fishing vessels.

Zuwara, Libya’s most western town located near the Tunisian
border, is a major launchpad for smugglers shipping migrants
to Italy.

Libya has turned into a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict
and poverty to make it to Europe. Cross-border smuggler
networks exploit the country’s lawlessness and chaos to bring
Syrians into Libya via Egypt or nationals of sub-Saharan
countries via Niger, Sudan and Chad.

More than 2,300 people have died this year in attempts to reach
Europe by boat, compared with 3,279 during the whole of last
year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
As many as 50 refugees were found dead in a parked lorry in
Austria near the Hungarian border on Thursday, and German
Chancellor Angela Merkel said the discovery had shaken
European leaders discussing the migrant crisis at a Balkans
summit.

Libya has been struggling to cope with an influx of migrants,
putting them in overcrowded makeshift detention facilities such
as schools or military barracks where they live in poor
conditions lacking medical care.

The North African country used to deport migrants it caught but
with fighting between armed groups having cut off land border
crossings to Niger, Algeria and Chad many stay months or years
in detention facilities.