Hundreds of migrants feared dead off Libya coast

At least 239 migrants are feared drowned off the coast of Libya in two separate shipwrecks, survivors and the UN said Thursday.

"A vessel with around 140 people on board overturned Wednesday just a few hours after setting off from Libya, throwing everyone into the water. Only 29 people survived," UNHCR spokeswoman Carlotta Sami told AFP.

In the second incident, two women told the UN agency they believed they were the only survivors of the disaster in which some 125 people drowned.

"They told us they were on a faulty dinghy which began to sink as soon as they set sail. They were the only survivors," Sami said.

Those pulled to safety were transferred to Lampedusa by the Italian coast guard, where they told aid workers and the island's doctor how they had set off from Libya in rough seas.

"Their tales are horrifying," doctor Pietro Bartolo told Italian television network Tv2000.

Traffickers had forced migrants to set sail in bad weather at gunpoint, according to survivors.

"To make them get on the dinghies they (the traffickers) shot a man, killing him dead. They made them depart and after a few miles at sea the tragedy happened," Bartolo said.

"One woman said she had to hold on to a dead body to survive. They said they spent many hours in the water in the hope someone would save them. But when the rescuers arrived there was nothing to be done for most of them," he added.

The doctor said at least three children were among the dead.

The latest tragedy brings the number of migrants who have died or are missing feared drowned this year to over 4,200.

"Another tragedy on the high seas, with 239 feared dead in the Mediterranean, once again. So many lives could be saved through more resettlement and legal pathways to protection," said the UN's refugee chief Filippo Grandi.

Sami, the UNHCRspokeswoman, tweeted: "One in every 42 people are dying in the Central Mediterranean looking for safety".

October marked a record monthly high in the number of migrants arriving in Italy in recent years - some 27,000 people - and the departures have showed no sign of slowing, despite worsening weather in the Mediterranean.

Amnesty International warned Thursday the pressure placed on Italy by Europe to cope alone with the worst migration crisis since World War II had led to "unlawful expulsions and ill-treatment which in some cases may amount to torture".

The report was bluntly rejected by Italy's chief of police, who denied the use of violent methods in the force's handling of migrants.