Scores of refugees feared dead as boat sinks off Libya

84 refugees are still missing after an inflatable craft sank off the coast of Libya, according to survivors cited by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) on Saturday.

26 people were rescued from the inflatable boat which sank on Friday, and were questioned overnight.

“According to testimonies gathered by IOM in Lampedusa 84 people went missing,” IOM spokesman in Italy Flavio Di Giacomo wrote on his Twitter feed.

Di Giacomo said the survivors indicated 110 people, all from assorted west African states, had embarked in Libya.

In an email, he added that the vessel “was in a very bad state, was taking on water and many people fell into the water and drowned.

“Ten fell very rapidly and several others just minutes later.”

Earlier on Saturday, the Italian coastguard said an Italian cargo ship had rescued 26 refugees from a rubber boat that had taken on water off the coast of Libya but voiced fears that dozens more could be missing. The Italian Coast Guard received a call from a satellite phone on Friday but no voice was heard. It then tracked the signal to a location about seven kilometres off the Libyan coast, a spokesman said.

Rough seas and waves topping two metres (seven feet) hampered attempts to find any other survivors.

Those rescued were transferred to two coastguard vessel and taken to the Italian island of Lampedusa. Images released by the coastguard showed two women wrapped in shawls and blankets stepping off one of their vessels.

An IOM spokesman said five unaccompanied minors aged between 16 and 17 were among those rescued.

The spokesman said such boats used by human traffickers can hold between 100-120 people and are usually full but no information was available on the number that might be missing.

More than 350,000 people fleeing conflict and poverty have reached Italy on boats from Libya since the start of 2014, as Europe struggles to manage its biggest migration crisis since the Second World War. With the closing of land routes in the Balkans and a recent deal under which Greece sends migrants back to Turkey, Italian officials expect more to try to make the longer and much more dangerous crossing from Libya.