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| AGAIN! Upto 700 refuges fleeing violence in Libya drown in the Mediterranean |
SkyNews reports that hundreds of people are feared drowned after the vessel went down about 120 miles south of the Italian island of Lampedusa.
It is believed to have overturned when refugees moved to one side of the overcrowded boat as a merchant ship approached.
About 28 people have been rescued, while Sky's Enda Brady, in Sicily, said there were reports of some 150 survivors.
The emergency was declared at about midnight and the Italian coastguard and navy are continuing to search for survivors.
The capsizing comes amid a large number of refugees trying to leave Libya for Italian shores.
So far, at least 900 have died trying this year as boats capsized.
If confirmed, the latest disaster would be one of the worst seen during the decades-long migrant crisis in the southern Mediterranean.
And it would bring the total number of dead since the beginning of the year to more than 1,500.
Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told SkyTG24 television: "At the moment, we fear that this is a tragedy of really vast proportions."
The destabilization of Libya ever since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi regime has been forcing refugees out of Libya alongside those fleeing violence in Syria and other parts of the Middle East.
The world watches as the refugees drown day after day.
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The world watches as the refugees drown day after day.
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