500 Refugees Dead in Shipwreck Near Libya: Reports

The sun rises as migrants and refugees on a dingy arrive at the shore of the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey on March 20, 2016. In another incident two Syrian refugees have been found dead on a boat on the first day of the implementation of an agreement between the EU and Turkey on handling the new arrivals. AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris

The United Nations refugee agency says that as many as 500 migrants may have died after a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea, it has been reported.

The ship sunk off the coast of Libya, after smugglers attempted to transfer migrants from a boat to an already overburdened larger vessel, the UNHCR said on Wednesday.

Due to the overcrowding, the large boat sank.

— UNHCR