Thirty-five migrants, including seven children, were feared drowned after their inflatable craft sank this Saturday off the Libyan coast, the coastguard said.

Eighty-five migrants, including 18 women, were rescued with the help of fishermen who alerted the coastguard, said Issa al-Zarrouk, a coastguard official in Garabulli, 60 kilometres (40 miles) east of Tripoli.

afp