DHAKA: A boat carrying 170 undocumented migrants from sub-Saharan Africa was feared lost at sea off the Libyan capital Tripoli, a local coast guard official told media.

“We are looking for 170 African passengers on a wooden boat that has foundered off the Guarakouzi area” some 60 kilometers (35 miles) east of Tripoli, coast guard official Abdellatif Mohammed Ibrahim told the agency on Friday.

Earlier, Itar-Tass reported that 16 passengers of the apparently overloaded boat were rescued and 15 more were found dead by the coastguard, while the total number of people on board the boat was about 200. The small vessel was supposedly heading for Italy.

Source: rt.com

BDST: 1044 HRS, AUG 23, 2014