As many as 239 people are feared dead in two shipwrecks off the coast of Libya, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman for UNHCR's based in Rome, said on Thursday that the information was confirmed by survivors brought ashore on the Italian island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean.

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Carlotta Sami @CarlottaSami

As new rescue operations ongoing in the Mediterranean, survivors are telling us about 2 new shipwrecks. At least 239 persons are missing

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No bodies have yet been recovered.

Sami said that 31 survivors of two shipwrecks who arrived to Lampedusa on Thursday reported that their boats capsized in heavy seas.

They said 29 people survived the first wreck, and about 120 people had gone missing.

In a separate operation, two women found swimming at sea told rescuers that another 120 people had died in that wreck.

In both cases, most of the people on board appeared to have been from sub-Sahara Africa, but Sami said aid workers were still ascertaining details.

Leonard Doyle, chief spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, said the latest wrecks meant that 4,220 lives had now been lost in the Mediterranean so far this year - the highest toll on record.

Source: News Agencies