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Around 60 migrants are missing in waters off Libya, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday after interviewing survivors who were picked up from their stricken craft.
Rescuers managed to pull fifty two migrants to safety; a naval ship rushed to the scene after the dinghy appeared to be deflating and dropped life rafts into the sea. Those migrants who have been accounted for have been taken to the Italian island of Lampedusa. Immigrants have been arriving in a similar fashion on the Greek island of Kos.
Over 30 of the passengers were women but there were no children, the agency said.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last week said around a quarter of a million migrants had crossed to Europe by sea this year, of which 98 000 had arrived in Italy and 124 000 in Greece. More than 2 100 had died in their bid to cross, it said.
From Greece, migrants move north through the Balkans, hoping to gain asylum in countries such Germany, the Netherlands or Sweden.
