Up to 500 feared dead after boat sinks

The UN refugee agency said on Wednesday as many as 500 refugees and migrants may have lost their lives after an overcrowded boat sank in the Mediterranean Sea between Libya and Italy. The incident, if confirmed, could be one of the worst tragedies involving refugees and migrants in the past 12 months.

The 41 survivors of the incident - 37 men, three women and a three-year-old child - were rescued by a merchant ship and taken to Kalamata, in the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece, on Saturday, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said.

The UNHCR team "has interviewed survivors of an overcrowded boat that sank in the Mediterranean in what could be one of the worst tragedies involving refugees and migrants in the last 12 months," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.