ROME -- Three survivors of a rubber dinghy that sank in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya say up to 117 other migrants were aboard at the time, a U.N. migration official said Saturday.
Flavio Di Giacomo of the International Organization for Migration told Italian state TV that "unfortunately about 120" migrants were reported by survivors to have been on the overloaded smugglers' dinghy when it was launched from Libyan shores on Thursday evening, the latest tragedy on the dangerous central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Europe.
"After a few hours, it began sinking and people began drowning," Di Giacomo said.
Among the missing are 10 women and two children, including a 2-month-old child, he said. Survivors indicated their fellow migrants came from Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gambia and Sudan, Di Giacomo said.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who has urged that the government show more compassion for migrants, expressed his "deep sorrow for the tragedy that has taken place in the Mediterranean."
Premier Giuseppe Conte told reporters he was "shocked" at the reports of the sinking and vowed that Italy would continue to combat human traffickers.
Italy's government has banned private rescue boats from taking migrants to Italian shores. Together with Malta, Italy has begun investigations of the rescue groups, claiming their operations might facilitate trafficking.
The three survivors of the sinking were plucked to safety by an Italian navy helicopter on Friday afternoon, the navy said.
The Italian navy said that when its patrol plane first spotted the sinking dinghy, it had about 20 people aboard. The plane's crew dropped two life rafts near the dinghy, which inflated, and a navy destroyer 100 nautical miles away sent a helicopter to the scene.
That helicopter rescued the survivors, two from a life raft and one from the water, the navy said, adding that all had hypothermia.
They were flown to Lampedusa, an Italian island near Sicily, and treated in a hospital, Di Giacomo said.
Many migrants cannot afford to pay for life vests, an extra cost when boarding a smuggler's boat in Libya. The survivors said the migrants aboard the dinghy didn't have any.
It wasn't immediately clear exactly how many migrants might have died before the navy plane spotted the sinking dinghy.
The Italian coast guard says Libya asked a nearby cargo ship to search for survivors, but the ship reported it found no one.
Libyan navy spokesman Ayoub Gassim said one of its boats was sent Friday to the scene but it "had a mechanical issue and we had to call it back."
The official said 50 migrants were believed to have been aboard the dinghy when it set sail.
According to the International Organization for Migration, at least 2,297 people died at sea or disappeared trying to reach Europe in 2018.
In all, 116,959 migrants reached Europe by sea routes last year, it says.
The U.N. refugee agency said Saturday that it was "appalled" at the news of the latest migrant deaths in the Mediterranean.
In a statement from its Geneva headquarters, the agency said that in addition to those missing off Libya, 53 people died in recent days in the western Mediterranean, where one survivor was rescued by a fishing boat after being stranded for more than 24 hours at sea.
"We cannot turn a blind eye to the high numbers of people dying on Europe's doorstep," said Filippo Grandi, head of the U.N. refugee agency.
Italy has trained and equipped the Libyan coast guard so it can intercept and rescue more migrant boats closer to their shores.
But U.N. refugee officials and rights advocates say the migrants rescued by the Libyans are returned to dangerous, overcrowded detention facilities, where detainees face insufficient rations, rape, beatings and torture.
Libyan navy official Ayoub Gassim said Saturday that the Libyan navy had stopped two smuggling boats, one with 67 people aboard and the other with 20.
In a separate operation, the German rescue group Sea-Watch said it rescued 47 people from a rubber boat off the coast of Libya.
The nongovernmental organization said its Sea-Watch 3 boat had headed to the area Friday after its reconnaissance aircraft overheard communications about the other rubber dinghy, but were unable to get to it in time.
Officials said Saturday that the aircraft reported another rubber boat in distress, and Sea-Watch was able to rescue all 47 people on board.
The agency said it hasn't been able to contact Libyan authorities, but has informed both Maltese and Italian officials.
It was not immediately clear where they would take the people rescued. Lampedusa is the closest possibility.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has criticized the rescuers, saying last week that when humanitarian rescue boats patrol off Libya, "the smugglers resume their dirty trafficking [and] people start dying again."
Information for this article was contributed by David Rising, Rami Musa and staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 01/20/2019