01:51Libya: 40 migrants feared dead after boat capsizes off Libya
Forty people are believed to be dead or missing after a boat carrying them to Europe overturned off the coast of Libya on Tuesday, with footage showing survivors in the western town of Khoms.
UN refugee agency spokesman Charlie Yaxley tweeted "around 60 people have been rescued and returned to shore. At least 40 people are estimated to be dead or missing."
Footage from Khoms, around 120 kilometres (75 miles) east of Tripoli, shows migrants resting under a shed and sleeping.
According to reports citing Libya's coast guard, at least 65 migrants, mostly from Sudan, were rescued but dozens more are still missing.
"We were sailing, then the boat broke down so people fell, some of them tried to put their safety jackets on and tried to swim. The first victims died because of panic," one man said.
Ayoub Gassim, a spokesman for Libya's coast guard, confirmed that at least five bodies, including a child, were recovered near Khoms.
UNHCR figures estimate that a total of 859 migrants have died in the Mediterranean between January 1 and August 22, with 45,505 people having reached Europe by sea so far this year.
01:51Forty people are believed to be dead or missing after a boat carrying them to Europe overturned off the coast of Libya on Tuesday, with footage showing survivors in the western town of Khoms.
UN refugee agency spokesman Charlie Yaxley tweeted "around 60 people have been rescued and returned to shore. At least 40 people are estimated to be dead or missing."
Footage from Khoms, around 120 kilometres (75 miles) east of Tripoli, shows migrants resting under a shed and sleeping.
According to reports citing Libya's coast guard, at least 65 migrants, mostly from Sudan, were rescued but dozens more are still missing.
"We were sailing, then the boat broke down so people fell, some of them tried to put their safety jackets on and tried to swim. The first victims died because of panic," one man said.
Ayoub Gassim, a spokesman for Libya's coast guard, confirmed that at least five bodies, including a child, were recovered near Khoms.
UNHCR figures estimate that a total of 859 migrants have died in the Mediterranean between January 1 and August 22, with 45,505 people having reached Europe by sea so far this year.