Almost 100 missing from wrecked migrant boat off Libya

Almost 100 refugees fleeing through Libya were missing and feared dead Thursday after their crowded boat was battered by high waves and sank in the Mediterranean Sea, Libyan officials said.

Ayoub Gassim, a Navy spokesman in Tripoli, said a survivor reported that 126 people set off Wednesday from Garabulli in northwest Libya, The Guardian reported. Gassim said fewer than 30 had been brought to safety from the wreckage more than 20 miles out in international waters.

Libya is a primary exit point for Africans trying to reach Europe in desperate efforts to flee war, despotic regimes and poverty.

"Because of overcrowding, one of the sides of the boat got torn and water leaked in," Gassim told Reuters. "Ninety-seven illegal migrants are still missing or they have drowned."

The tragedy occurred the same day the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced the death toll of refugees crossing the Mediterranean had hit a record high. The UNHCR reported that 3,771 lives had been lost in 2015.

Already in 2016, "3,930 people reported dead or missing in the Mediterranean so far this year," UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler tweeted Thursday. "Without the heroic efforts of rescuers, it would be much higher."

Spindler said the high loss of life takes place despite a large overall fall this year in the number of people seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. Last year, more than 1 million people made the crossing. This year so far, crossings stand at about 327,800, he said.

“This is the worst we have ever seen,” Spindler said. “From one death for every 269 arrivals last year, in 2016 the likelihood of dying has spiraled to one in 88.”