More than 100 migrants were feared to have drowned in the past two days as the boats carrying them from Libya capsized in the Mediterranean, a report by The Times of London said.

It quoted the Italian coastguard as saying that 96 people were saved after their wooden vessel overturned off the Libyan coast yesterday.

“Twenty bodies were seen floating in the sea,” the report said, adding: “On Wednesday dramatic pictures emerged of another boat capsizing off Libya. According to survivors who arrived at the Sicilian port of Porto Empedocle yesterday, about 100 people were trapped in the hull of that ship. They are still missing.”

•Photo by EUNAVFOR MED/Reuters shows desperate migrants wave for help after their boat sank off Libya. They were later picked up by a Spanish frigate and were among 4,000 people rescued yesterday.