At least 26 people have died and around a dozen are missing after a boat carrying nearly 100 migrants capsized off the coast of Lampedusa, the Italian coastguard and UN agencies said, APA reports citing Sky News.
Sixty survivors were taken to a centre on the Italian island, said Filippo Ungaro, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Italy.
There were up to 97 migrants on board when the boat departed Libya, according to survivor accounts.
Authorities were still searching for any remaining survivors.
An Italian law enforcement aircraft spotted a capsized boat with bodies in the water about 14 miles (23km) off Lampedusa on Wednesday morning, triggering a rescue operation, the coastguard said in a statement.
It also said five ships, two aircraft and one helicopter were operating at the rescue site.
The coastguard said 26 deaths had been confirmed so far but that was "provisional and being updated".
