ROME: About 146 migrants are feared missing after their boat capsized after leaving Libya, according to a Gambian man who was rescued following the disaster, the United Nations’ refugee agency said Wednesday. The man was rescued by a Spanish military ship participating in the EU’s “Operation Sophia” to crack down on smugglers, and then brought to the Italian island of Lampedusa. The vessel left on Sunday or Monday from Sabratha, western Libya, with five children and several pregnant women among those on board, the Gambian told a member of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees who met him at a hospital in Lampedusa. Most of the passengers were from Nigeria, Mali and The Gambia, he said. He said the boat began taking on water a few hours after setting off, and that he survived by holding on to a fuel can. Agencies
