700 migrants feared dead in Mediterranean shipwrecks: UN

Carlotta Sami, spokeswoman for UNHCR, told Associated Press an estimated 100 people are missing from a smugglers' boat that capsized on Wednesday.

Sami said about 550 others are missing from a smuggling boat that capsized on Thursday moing.

She said refugees claimed the vessel, carrying about 670 people, didn't have an engine and was being towed by another smuggling boat before it capsized.

About 25 people survived, 79 others were rescued by patrol boats and 15 dead bodies were recovered.

Sami said 45 more bodies were recovered from a shipwreck on Friday and many more are reported missing.

Survivors are being taken to the Italian ports of Taranto and Pozzallo.

Sami said the U.N. agency is trying to gather information with sensitivity considering that most of the new arrivals are either shipwreck survivors themselves or traumatised by what they saw.