600 feared dead as ship fleeing Libya sinks

A SHIP carrying up to 600 migrants trying to flee Libya has sunk just off the coast of the North African country, the UN Refugee Agency said, citing witness accounts.

The agency is trying to confirm what happened to the passengers when the vessel broke apart at sea shortly after leaving a port near Libya’s capital Tripoli on Friday, spokeswoman Laura Boldrini said.

There was no information on how many people might have died, and the uprising in Libya makes any official accounting unlikely.