100 Refugees Missing After Boat Sinks

Nearly 100 people are missing after a boat packed with refugees and migrants sank off the Libyan coast, killing at least eight, according to the Italian coastguard. Search operations continued after nightfall in poor weather and sea conditions, officials said on Saturday, Aljazeera reported. “The bodies of eight people have been recovered. Four people have been saved and they say 107 migrants were onboard the boat,” the coastguard’s press office said. A French warship, patrolling under the European Union’s Frontex border operation, picked up the survivors and two merchant ships were heading for the area, located about 50 km north of the Libyan coast. A Frontex jet and an Italian naval helicopter also joined the search and rescue operation. On Friday, around 550 refugees and migrants were picked up from four inflatable dinghies by Italian coastguard vessels, an Italian naval ship, an NGO boat and a merchant vessel.