Nine survivors landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa today, out of more than 200 who had left Libya on Saturday in two rubber dinghies, the International Organisation for Migration said.
"Nine were saved after four days at sea. The other 203 were swallowed by the waves," UNHCR spokeswoman in Italy, Carlotta Sami, said on Twitter.
The IOM said the surviving migrants spoke French, so probably came from west African nations such as Ivory Coast and Senegal.
He said the migrants had left with another dinghy carrying a group of Africans, 29 of whom were killed by exposure trying to make the short but perilous crossing from Libya to Lampedusa.