Libyan Red Crescent workers
Libyan Red Crescent workers move the body of a dead migrant that was recovered by the Libyan coastguard after a boat sank off the coastal town of Zuwara, west of Tripoli, August 28, 2015. Libya recovered 82 bodies washed ashore after the boat packed with migrants sank in the Mediterranean Sea and said another 100 people were missing, feared dead. The vessel sank on Thursday after leaving Zuwara, a major launchpad for smugglers shipping migrants to Italy by exploiting a security vacuum in Libya where rival governments are fighting for control four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. REUTERS/Hani Amara

A fishing boat in western Libya with migrants sank in the Mediterranean and killed at least 150 people. If the death toll is confirmed, it may the one of the highest for migrants and refugees trying to travel from North Africa to Europe.

The accident took place on Aug. 27, the same day when Austrian authorities found 71 decomposing bodies of people, apparently migrants, in the back of an abandoned truck alongside a highway.

Jamal Naji Zubia said the fishing boat had gone down off the port city of Zuwarah. According to NY Times, the port city is often used by refugees and migrants who try to make the Mediterranean crossing. The director of the foreign media office for the Tripoli-based government of Libya said at least 150 people who had been killed were from several countries.

"The boat was in a bad condition and people died with us," Reuters quoted Ayman Talaal, a Syrian survivor. "We have been forced into this route. It's now called the grave of the Mediterranean Sea."

Libyan officials started searching survivors with inflatables and fishing boats provided by local people as there were no navy ships. Officials said around 198 people had been rescued alive by noon.

Local residents and officials put the corpses into red bags while a blue inflatable brought in more dead bodies. "We, the Red Crescent, work with nothing. Some fishermen help us with a boat," Reuters quoted Ibrahim al-Attoushi, a Red Crescent official in Zuwara. "We only have one ambulance car."

Cross-border smuggling networks exploit the political unrest in Libya to bring Syrians into the country via Egypt. The networks also smuggle migrants to Italy due to a security vacuum in the country.

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