U.N.: Ship with 600 reported sunk off Libya

Last Updated 10:13 a.m. ET

MILAN — The U.N. Refugee Agency said it has received witness reports that a ship carrying up to 600 migrants trying to flee Libya sank off the coast of the North African country.

Spokeswoman Laura Boldrini said the agency is trying to confirm what happened to the passengers when the vessel broke apart at sea Friday.

Witnesses who departed on another boat shortly after reported seeing the ship broken apart and bodies floating in the sea. That boat arrived later in Italy.

Boldrini said Monday that at least another three boats that departed Libya in recent months laden with migrants never made it to Italy.

On Sunday Italian police and coast guard officials on the tiny island of Lampedusa rescued some 400 illegal migrants coming from Libya whose boat was tossed against rocks near port in southern Italy after the steering malfunctioned, officials said.

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Images of the rescue showed panicked migrants jumping or falling into the choppy waters as their boat heaved in the waves off the tiny island of Lampedusa. Strong winds had pushed the boat against rocks, throwing migrants overboard.

Some managed to make their way to shore holding onto ropes that had been attached to the boat's stern; others were hauled up on shore by rescue crews in the water.

Three police officials who had boarded the boat in open seas helped control the situation, and rescuers reached the migrants immediately, saving them all.

Police official Fabrizio Pisanelli said they included women and children, and were from sub-Saharan Africa.

People have resumed fleeing Libya by sea to Italy after a 10-day break due to bad weather. Some 3,200 people have arrived on Lampedusa over the past five days, most of them originating from sub-Saharan Africa.

Meanwhile, NATO denied a report published Sunday in The Guardian that dozens of African migrants were left to die in the Mediterranean after their boat ran in trouble, and no rescue effort was made despite alarms raised to local military, coast guard and a NATO warship.

The boat drifted in the open sea for 16 days; nearly all on board died from thirst and hunger.

"Every morning we would wake up and find more bodies, which we would leave for 24 hours and then throw overboard," Abu Kurke, one of only nine survivors, told the Guardian. "By the final days, we didn't know ourselves ... everyone was either praying, or dying."

According to BBC News, NATO denied claims that its naval units left dozens of migrants aboard the drifting boat to die. It said it was unaware of the plight of the boat.

NATO issued a statement saying, "Only one aircraft carrier was under NATO command on those dates, the Italian ship Garibaldi. Throughout the period in question, the Garibaldi was operating over 100 nautical miles out to sea. Therefore, any claims that a NATO aircraft carrier spotted and then ignored the vessel in distress are wrong."

Tens of thousands of migrants have fled the unrest in northern Africa since January, most arriving at Lampedusa, the nearest Italian port to Africa.

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More than 9,000 people have arrived on ships in Italy and Malta between March 26 and last week, according to UNHCR.

According to UNHCR, almost 40,000 people have fled Libya's Western Mountains region in the past month.

The humanitarian crisis also continues along Libya's border. As of May 4, 339,223 people have arrived to Tunisia, including more than 200,000 foreign nationals escaping the conflict.

Refugees camps hosted by UNHCR and the Red Crescent have been built inside the Tunisian border, at Dehiba, Remada and Tataouine. Several NGOs and civil society organizations are helping to provide shelter, food and water to the Libyan refugees.