64 drown in boat sinking

UP to 64 migrants died off the coast of Libya at the weekend when their boat sank, humanitarian groups say.

Eighty-six people were plucked from the stricken rubber dinghy on Saturday and eight bodies – all women – were recovered. But the boat had been carrying 150 migrants, said survivors, and many of the dead vanished beneath the waves.

The Italian coastguard said the migrants had been spotted by a plane patrolling the seas on behalf of a European antismuggling operation.

Rescuers believe their dinghy deflated following a puncture.