The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) told Xinhua Monday that around 245 migrants are feared to have lost their lives in two separate shipwrecks that took place off the Mediterranean Sea over the weekend.

According to UNHCR spokesperson Cecile Pouilly, the first shipwreck took place Friday night when a boat carrying 132 people capsized in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea.

Fifty people were rescued and taken to the Italian island of Sicily, meaning that 82 men, women and children who were making the perilous journey to reach European shores are feared dead.

This adds to a second shipwreck which occurred off the Libyan coast on Sunday, in which 163 out of the 170 people on board the sunken vessel are thought to have drowned or are still registered as missing. Endit

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