At least 23 people were rescued when the boats capsized in high winds [AFP]
At least 23 people were rescued when the boats capsized in high winds [AFP]
At least 21 bodies were found on Tuesday after the vessels capsized in high winds and heavy rain off the coast of Libya, the IOM officials said.
More than 200 would-be migrants are feared dead after up to three Europe-bound boats sank in separate incidents in the Mediterranean, the International Organisation for Migration says.
"A boat with 257 migrants on board sank on Sunday off the coast of Libya. Twenty-three people were saved and 21 bodies were retrieved", Laurence Hart, the IOM chief of mission in Tripoli, Libya's capital, said.
Officials said search operations were ongoing but hopes of finding survivors were fading.
"After more than two days of searching, we have found no more bodies or survivors or the boat," a Libyan official told the Reuters news agency.
Departure point
The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva said on Tuesday that Egyptians, Tunisians and Africans were aboard the boats that were wrecked around 30km off the Libyan coast.
"This is the beginning of the smuggling season in the Mediterranean" Ron Redmond,
UNHCR spokesman
Libyan officials said it was not clear whether the boats left for Italy from Libya.
Libya, whch has 1,770km of coast, is a popular departure point for African migrants trying to reach Europe for a better life.
"This is the beginning of the smuggling season in the Mediterranean," Ron Redmond, the UNHCR spokesman, said.
"This tragic incident illustrates, once again, the dangers faced by people caught in mixed irregular movements of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean and elsewhere which every year cost thousands of lives."
Migration controls
The report of the deaths comes amid plans by Italy and Libya for a joint sea patrol in May in a bid to halt the influx of migrants trying to reach European countries.
The Italian interior minister said on Monday that the patrols would begin on May 15, and he expected that day to "mark the end" of illegal migration from North Africa.
"We have done everything possible to prevent arrivals," Roberto Maroni said.
"We have signed a deal with Libya and the Libyan government is committed to launch on May 15 patrols along the coasts with six vessels.
"Until then, we will continue to ask the Libyan authorities to intensify controls, but I guess that there will still be arrivals."
Hart, of the IOM's Tripoli office, said that the agreement may have been a "push factor which people smugglers exploited telling would-be migrants: "it is now or never".
Nearly 37,000 immigrants deemed illegal landed on Italian coasts last year, a 75 per cent rise from 2007, according to the Italian interior ministry.
Rights groups say most migrants risk their lives in treacherous waters trying to reach Europe hoping to escape poverty in their home countries.
The  (IOM) stated that over 200 Arab and African migrants are feared drowned after three boats, bound for Europe, sank in the Mediterranean in separate incidents.

No less than 21 bodies were recovered on Tuesday when the boats capsized in heavy winds and rain near Libya's coast. 23 were rescued by workers on a oil rig close by.

"A boat with 257 migrants on board sank on Sunday off the coast of Libya. Twenty-three people were saved and 21 bodies were retrieved," said the IOM chief of mission in Libya's capital of Tripoli, Laurence Hart.

Officials say that search and rescue efforts are ongoing, but that hopes of finding any more survivors are diminishing. "It is hard to imagine that there are survivors among the missing by now," Hart said.

The people aboard the boats are suspected to have been smuggled across the sea to Italy. Libya's 1.770 kilometres of coastline is a popular point of departure for migrants hoping to escape poverty and find a better life in Europe.

"This is the beginning of the smuggling season in the Mediterranean. This tragic incident illustrates, once again, the dangers faced  by people caught in mixed irregular movements of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean and elsewhere which every year cost thousands of lives," said  (UNHCR) spokesman Ron Redmond.

There has been a history of people-smuggling into Italy from Libya: almost 37,000 immigrants considered to have entered illegally landed in Italy in 2008, the Italian interior ministry reports. The figures are a 75% increase from the previous year.

Italian interior minister Roberto Maroni said that patrols on the sea would start on May 15 in an effort to curb the smuggling across the Mediterranean. "We have done everything possible to prevent arrivals. We have signed a deal with Libya and the Libyan government is committed to launch on May 15 patrols along the coasts with six vessels," he said. "Until then, we will continue to ask the Libyan authorities to intensify controls, but I guess that there will still be arrivals."