150 migrants feared dead after boats capsize off Libya coast

CAIRO (AP) — Up to 150 Europe-bound migrants were missing and feared drowned today after the boats they were traveling in capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya, the country's coast guard and the U.N. refugee agency said.

A top U.N. official described the shipwreck as "the worst Mediterranean tragedy" so far this year.

The International Rescue Committee said the tragedy was a stark reminder of the humanitarian crisis emerging out of Libya and of the urgent need for search-and-rescue missions to be resumed in the Mediterranean.

Ayoub Gassim, a spokesman for Libya's coast guard, told The Associated Press that two boats carrying about 300 migrants capsized about 75 miles east of the capital, Tripoli. About 137 migrants were rescued and returned to Libya, he said, and the coast guard has recovered just one body so far.

Charlie Yaxley, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, said 147 had been saved.

"We estimate that 150 migrants are potentially missing and died at sea," he said.

"The worst Mediterranean tragedy of this year has just occurred," said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

In January, some 117 died or went missing off Libya's coast and about 65 people drowned after their boat sank off the coast of Tunisia in May.

Grandi called on European nations to resume rescue missions in the Mediterranean, halted after an EU decision, and appealed for an end to migrant detentions in Libya.