On Saturday evening, the Italian coast guard assisted two migrant boats, which had left the Tunisian port of Sfax a few days earlier, an Italian broadcaster reported, citing surviving migrants.
The first boat had 48 people on board, 45 of whom were rescued by Italian ships. Only 14 of the 42 passengers on the second boat survived, the migrants said.
Another Italian broadcaster reported that 57 African migrants were rescued.
As of late June, more than 1,895 migrants had died trying to cross the Mediterranean, the Open Arms migrant rescue NGO said.