5 migrants dead, up to 20 missing in sinking off Libya

The bodies of five migrants including a Moroccan child were recovered off Libya's coast Tuesday while up to 20 others were missing after a Europe-bound boat sank, the navy said.

Navy spokesman Ayoub Kacem told reporters 65 migrants, mostly from Sudan, were rescued off Khoms, a town 120 kilometres (75 miles) east of Tripoli.

The vessel was believed to have been carrying up to 90 people, he said, based on survivors' accounts.

Libya has long been a major transit route for migrants, especially from sub-Saharan Africa.

People traffickers have operated with impunity in the chaos that followed the 2011 uprising which toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi.