At least 27 migrants have died after two boats capsized as they tried to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy.
Around 60 survivors were rescued from the seas off the island of Lampedusa, while the search for others continues.
More than 700 people have died trying to cross the central Mediterranean this year, according to the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR).
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offered her “deepest condolences” to the victims. A UNHCR spokesperson said there was “deep anguish” felt over the incident.
More than 90 people were aboard the two boats before they capsized, Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesperson for the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.
A Somalian woman onboard one of the vessels gave a harrowing account to the Rome-based daily newspaper La Repubblica of losing her one-year-old daughter and husband.
“All hell broke loose,” she said. “I never saw them again, my little girl slipped away, I lost them both.”
What caused the two vessels to capsize has yet to be confirmed.
However, survivors suggested to La Repubblica that when the first boat capsized, its occupants were forced to climb into the second vessel, which then capsized as well.
“We had set out on two boats, but one capsized, so we all climbed aboard one of them. But then the other one also started taking on water,” one told the paper.
Italian PM Meloni said in a statement: “When a tragedy like today’s occurs, with the deaths of dozens of people in the waters of the Mediterranean, a strong sense of dismay and compassion arises in all of us.
“And we find ourselves contemplating the inhumane cynicism with which human traffickers organise these sinister journeys.”
The island of Lampedusa is home to a migrant reception centre that is often overcrowded with challenging living conditions. It welcomes tens of thousands of migrants who have survived the often dangerous route across the Mediterranean to Europe every year.
Those who make the journey often travel in poorly maintained and overcrowded vessels.
At least 25,000 people have gone missing or been killed while trying to cross the central Mediterranean since 2014, according to the IOM.
