TheCable

About 700 migrants trying to escape to Europe drowned in the Mediterranean when the fishing boat conveying them capsized off Libya coast on Sunday.

The UN’s refugee agency says a major rescue operation is under way in what could be regarded as the worst disaster involving migrants being smuggled to Europe.

Italian coastguards have retrieved 49 survivors so far and about 20 bodies, according to the interior ministry, after the boat went down overnight about 60 miles (96km) off the Libyan coast and 120 miles (193km) south of the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The UN’s refugee agency, told The Guardian that the accident happened after the migrants saw a merchant ship in the distance and scrambled to attract its attention, over-balancing the fishing boat in which they were travelling.

Barbara Molinario, a spokeswoman for UNHCR in Rome, said: “They wanted to be rescued. They saw another ship. They were trying to make themselves known to it.”

So far about 800 migrants have died in 2015 while on route to Europe – at least 30 times higher than last year’s equivalent figure, which was itself a record.

Last year a record 170,000 people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East made the perilous crossing to Italy, while thousands died making the journey.

Sunday’s accident comes five days after 400 people drowned in a similar incident.

In the past week alone, Italy’s coastguard rescued 10,000 migrants whose vessels ran into trouble.

After learning of the latest incident, Pope Francis expressed deep concern, calling on the authorities to intervene in order to prevent more lives from being lost.

“They are men and women like us – our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war,” he said during his homily at St Peter’s Square.

It was the Pope’s second appeal in less than 24 hours.

On Saturday, he backed a call by Italy for the European Union to intervene to stop more lives from being lost.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), around 20,000 migrants have reached the Italian coast this year.