At least 400 refugees are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean while trying to cross by boat from Egypt to Italy, various news outlets reported Monday.
RELATED:
The migrants are believed to be largely Somalis, with smaller numbers of Eritreans and Ethiopians, Sky News said.
The tragedy, if confirmed, comes exactly a year after the worst migrant disaster in the Mediterranean for decades, when about 800 refugees died when the boat they were crammed into capsized at sea.
According to witnesses of that tragedy, the boat capsized when migrants rushed to one side of the ship after seeing a passing Portuguese vessel they thought was coming to their rescue.
The refugees involved in Monday's tragedy were on board four boats, BBC Arabic reported.
The Somali Embassy in Egypt is investigating the incident, which to this moment has not been verified.
OPINION:
The vast majority of refugees and migrants who reach Italy by sea depart in old fishing boats and rubber dinghies from the coast of Libya.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella said there had been a "migrant tragedy," and stated that the EU needed to reflect in light of "yet another tragedy in the Mediterranean in which, it seems, several hundred people have died."
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said, "We are looking for more details, information. But what is sure is that we are again with a tragedy in the Mediterranean—exactly one year after the tragedy we had, not in the Egyptian but in Libyan waters."