Hundreds of migrants trying to reach Europe are feared drowned after their boat sank off the coast of Libya.
The vessel was travelling to Europe carrying at least 250 migrants when it sank near to Tajoura, near Tripoli.
Libyan Navy spokesman Ayub Qassem said that 26 people had been rescued so far, but many bodies could be seen floating in the water in the vicinity of the sunken boat.
The tragedy is the fourth vessel carrying migrants from Libya to capsize in recent weeks, with human traffickers having illegally transported an estimated 100,000 people from Africa to Italy in 2014.
Libya has grown as an exit point for Africans looking to travel to Europe during the chaos since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in 2011.
The Italian coastguard have few resources and Italy has appealed to the EU for help in dealing with what officials have described as an “increasingly glaring” crisis.
