As many as 500 migrants may have drowned in Mediterranean, agency says

As many as 500 migrants may have died Saturday when a large ship sank in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy, the United Nations refugee agency said.

On Tuesday, a U.N. team interviewed survivors of what could be one of the worst tragedies involving refugees and migrants in the last 12 months.

The ship reportedly went down at an unknown location between Libya and Italy, the agency said Wednesday.

The 41 survivors — 37 men, three women and a 3-year-old child — were rescued by a merchant ship and taken to Kalamata, Greece, on April 16.

Those rescued include 23 Somalis, 11 Ethiopians, 6 Egyptians and one person from Sudan, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.

The survivors said they had been part of a group that departed last week on a 30-meter boat from a site near Tobruk, Libya.

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