At least 10 people are feared dead after a boat carrying migrants to Europe capsized off Libyan waters, Italian authorities said.

A ship carrying migrants crosses the Mediterranean Sea - Photo: Reuters

A spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the death toll could be as high as 40. However, the prosecutor of the island of Sicily (Italy) Francesco Paolo Giordino said the death toll was only around 10.

“As far as I know, the boat was carrying about 100 people,” Mr. Giordino said. “Now 88 people have been rescued.”

Most of the migrants are from sub-Saharan Africa such as Somalia, Eritrea, Benin and Mali, the UNHCR said.

Italian daily La Reppublica said three refugee boats were due to dock in Tripoli, but one of them took on water and sank.

The refugees were rescued by a fishing boat and then taken to a German naval vessel.

NGO Save the Children said there were many children among the missing.

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 1,900 migrants have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.

In 2015, 150,000 migrants crossed the seas to escape conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.

(According to TTO)